
Class. Li__LLS_ — 
Book S 

COPYRIGHT DliPOSIT 



A SENATOR OF 
THE FIFTIES 



A SENATOR OF THE 
FIFTIES 

DAVID C. BRODERICK 
<?/ CALIFORNIA 



By 

Jeremiah Lynch 

Author Oj 

"EGYPTIAN SKETCHES" 

'THREE YEARS IN THE KLONDIKE' 

ETC 



San Francisco 
1911 






Copyright 1910 

By Jeremiah Lynch 



Printed by 

The Stanley-Taylor Company 

Ban Francisco 



(tCU27S927 



^ 



TO 
EDWARD ROBESON TAYLOR 

THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED AS 
A MODEST TRIBUTE TO FRIENDSHIP 



PREFACE 

The destruction of San Francisco in 1906 occa- 
sioned the loss of many unique and interesting 
documents relating to the early history of Cali- 
fornia. The shock of the fire and earthquake 
caused the rapid extinction of several pioneers who 
helped to make that history. Moreover, in the 
opinion of the author, a number of existing books 
describing events occurring in the fifties are both 
incomplete and inaccurate. 

Therefore, this work is a modest effort to supply 
these deficiencies before it is too late. Many liv- 
ing witnesses of incidents related have been con- 
sulted and all available sources of original authori- 
ties diligently investigated. The names of these 
persons and authorities will be found at the end 
of the volume. 

Surely the deeds and memories of the men who 
founded the State of California should be preserved 
from oblivion. 

JEREMIAH LYNCH. 
San Francisco, December, 1910. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Early Days 1 

II. New York 29 

III. 1849 41 

IV. Progress 61 

V. Conflict 81 

VI. The Committee op Vigilance 96 

VII. The Committee of Vigilance — Con- 
tinued 117 

VIII. Senator 140 

IX. Washington 158 

X. Dissension 181 

XI. Provocation 199 

XII. The Duel 213 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

David C. Broderick Title Page 



Mission at Pala Page 

Mission Dolores, San Francisco, 1856. . " 14 

William M. Gwin " 32 

San Francisco, 1849 " 48 

Sacramento, 1849 " 50 

Shasta City, 1855 " 62 

Execution of Casey and Cora " 96 

Fort Vigilance " 112 

David S. Terry " 130 

E.D.Baker " 142 

A Letter by Broderick " 178 

Los Angeles, 1857 " 190 

San Francisco, 1859 " 210 

House in which Broderick died '* 222 






/ 



A SENATOR OF 
THE FIFTIES 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY DAYS 

California, the richest district, with the most 
salubrious climate in the New World, existed quite 
unknown until the last few decades. 

This isolation was due to its remote location by 
the Pacific Ocean far from civilization. The co7i- 
quistadores discovered and ravaged the western 
coast of the southern continent, north to the tropics 
— including Central America. 

They had followers, but no successors. With 
Cortez and Pizarro died the resolute, desperate 
courage and enterprise that made the Spaniards 
who conquered these territories, almost Romans. 
Napoleon said, "It is the man, not the men, who 
wins." 

Unquestionably the sad end of the two marshals 
of the new empire, Cortez and Pizarro — the one 
received by his haughty sovereign with alternate 
ignominy and distinction ; the other assassinated 
by his comrades to whom he gave wealth, victory 
and power — was poor recompense for adding a con- 
tinent to the Spanish dominions. 

In later years a few desultory voyages were un- 
dertaken northerly along the coast and several 

1 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

military detachments were sent to the western and 
northern interior. 

But no glowing legends of riches rivalling those 
of Peru or of Mexico were heard and transmitted 
by these explorers on sea and land. A vague 
rumor of ' ' Seven golden cities ' ' that existed or had 
existed sometime in these vast untrodden regions 
in the dim past, floated around the cloisters of the 
churches and in the barracks of the soldiery, and 
both church and state united in more than one ef- 
fort to discover these fabled treasures of an un- 
known race. All that was found were some chaotic 
ruins that even yet exist and even yet are largely 
unexplored. The heat, difficulty of access, and 
dense vegetation have thus far saved the golden 
cities of Cibola from the time-destroying hands of 
the archeologist and antiquarian. 

The ruins existing in Lower California, distant 
from the ocean, may yet yield valuable and accu- 
rate data respecting the earlier centuries of human 
life in those localities. Moreover, the tale told to 
the soldiers of these expeditions by the few abo- 
rigines whom they met was not hopeful for farther 
enterprise. Here were immense distances, fearful 
hardships, famine and thirst; and, at the end, 
shores washed by a foggy sea and peopled with a 
few naked savages. Hence viceroys and bishops 
desisted, and, for many lustrums, this beautiful 
Arcadia lay like a nymph of the forest, waiting. 

2 



EARLY DAYS 

Later the gentlemanly buccaneer, Drake, drifted 
up the coast while hunting Spanish galleons, laden 
with treasure from Peru en route to the Philip- 
pines. He careened his ships to clean and repair 
at a point some few miles north of the entrance 
to the bay of San Francisco. He thus passed un- 
knowingly the ingress to one of the two or three 
perfect havens of the world. The waters where he 
disembarked are even now styled Drake's Bay. He 
found the far dwellers of this remote region dirty 
and affable. They lived on game and fish and were 
without raiment, although the climate with its 
misty vapors was by no means tropical. Penetrat- 
ing only a short distance into the interior, he de- 
parted as soon as his vessels were repaired, seeking 
Spanish plunder on the high seas. Doubtless the 
published history of his voyage was soon accessible 
to the foreign conquerors of Peru and Mexico and 
served still more to dissuade them from uninviting 
sacrifices. So that from Drake, 1579, to Viscaino, 
1603, the charm and beauty of California continued 
to remain secluded and unknown to an inquiring, 
intelligent world. At the latter date the Spanish 
navigator directed the course of his little flotilla 
northerly by the coast and discovered two principal 
ports — San Diego and Monterey. 

Like Drake, he returned, bringing back a meagre 
tale of unpopulated lands, bleak shores and dirty, 
unenriched aborigines. Both of these intrepid and 

3 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

skilful mariners, Drake and Viscaino, seemed some- 
what apprehensive of danger, fearful of leaving 
their vessels and traveling inland. After all, they 
were sailors, not soldiers. Viscaino continued his 
voyage even as far north as what is now British 
Columbia, but everywhere encountered the same 
lifelessness and inhospitality. 

Again, ages passed on; generations lived and 
died. The Atlantic Coast from extreme north to 
extreme south; from Labrador to the Isthmus and 
from the Isthmus to Patagonia, was mapped, 
plowed, tilled, cultivated ; forests felled ; lands peo- 
pled ; ships built ; cities constructed. Withal, this 
fairest province of California, lying the seas across 
from the oldest continent, where the Occident fully 
confronts the Orient over the wide, placid waters 
of the deep, remained still unknoA\Ti, sleeping and 
waiting. An hundred and seventy years more 
were marshalled with the dead lustrums that pre- 
ceded them. Not a vessel grazed her sands. Not a 
single sailor saw, from the swelling surge, the lofty 
mountain range, curbing the waters and bridling 
the storms. Not a single soldier or adventurous 
frontiersman trod her flowered glades or lofty sum- 
mits crested with snow. In her beauty and lovely 
youth she remained hidden like a nymph in the 
garden of the Hesperides, until the coming of the 
padres. A strange wooing this, of the dainty, 
lonely maiden springing like Aphrodite from the 

4 



EARLY DAYS 

sea, by the shriven, tonsured, leather-girdled, ven- 
erable friars. 

The Franciscans were the Jesuits of the New 
World, for the latter had been expelled. Just as 
devout, self-sacrificing and persevering, but more 
humble and modest, and without the domineering 
demands of the Jesuit organization, the Franciscan 
friars were singularly adapted for converting and 
colonizing the equally gentle and harmless in- 
digenous population of California. The Franciscan, 
Junipero Serra — a native of Majorca, but who had 
lived his life in Mexico — was selected by his order 
to lead the ecclesiastical members of the expedi- 
tion. 

The Viceroy of Mexico gave them a guard of 
fifty soldiers. It was also provided that each priest 
should receive four hundred dollars a year for sus- 
tenance. The crown and the cross toiled together 
under the flag of Spain. The single vessel, sailing 
from San Bias, conveyed two hundred cattle. These 
animals were the ancestors of the hundreds of 
thousands that a few years later wandered from 
end to end of the land ; for in California was 
abundance of wild game — deer, elks, bears, ante- 
lopes — but neither cattle nor horses. Siferra and his 
company landed at San Diego in 1769. A detach- 
ment was sent northerly to locate the port of Mon- 
terey, the second of the two bays discovered and 
described by Viscaino in 1603. The monks and 

5 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

soldiers marched on foot, with the scant supplies 
loaded on horses. 

In some mysterious manner they passed unseeing, 
Monterey Bay. To find water and grass the cav- 
alcade was often compelled to march miles from the 
coast with perhaps dry, lofty mountains inter- 
vening, though, of course, as the ocean was the 
guide, they feared to venture too far from its 
shores. But Portola, the commander of the expe- 
dition, pressed on seventy miles farther north until, 
with his soldiers, he discovered the superb, un- 
rivalled bay and harbor of San Francisco. On the 
return journey, which was difficult and dangerous 
because of the scarcity of supplies and the appear- 
ance of scurvy among the party, he sent his report 
from San Bias to the viceroy. 

Serra, who had remained at San Diego during 
Portola 's expedition, at once commenced the erec- 
tion of buildings of the style and architecture im- 
proved by the Moors in Northern Africa, taken by 
the Arabs to Spain and later, with slight modifica- 
tions, transferred to the New World. With red 
roof tiles, mud, and rough, sun-dried bricks were 
made into solid structures of one or two stories 
— admirable dwellings for the denizens of dry, 
hot climates. They are inexpensive, and easy 
to repair, and if one of the mission buildings 
be only partially destroyed it is so facile to 

6 



EARLY DAYS 

construct another. Water, earth and sun are the 
only factors. 

During the next decade the Franciscans built 
several missions, distributed from San Diego to 
Sonoma. Each mission had a moderate though ade- 
quate guard of from four to ten soldiers. The 
friars were architects of the earthly, as well as of 
the heavenly paradise, for, though Serra himself, 
with proper ceremonies, laid the foundation stone 
of every mission, yet he resided mainly in San 
Diego and the friars allocated each mission and 
aided only by the converted Indians, planned and 
constructed all the edifices. It was not all food, 
peace and sunshine. At Paso Robles the diet for 
one winter was acorns with green herbs for a flavor. 
The packet boat that left San Bias annually, with 
supplies for the immigrants missed a year or two. 
Monterey Bay had not yet been re-located. It was 
conjectured that sands from the sea, aided by earth- 
quakes, which even then were frequent, unwelcome 
and terrifying visitors, had destroyed its existence, 
and what else might not happen! There were no 
cattle, nor horses save the small herds transported 
thither by the Spaniards themselves. They did 
not know that most delicious wine could be 
made from the wild grapes abounding in the au- 
tumn glens — that the dry, hard soil, touched by the 
magic of water, would rival a world's garden and 
supply a world's granaries — that the wild and 

7 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

rugged hills with their steep and picturesque cones, 
and the mountain ranges, crevassed by deep- 
shadowed glades, concealed in their inmost recesses 
the golden ransom of a continent. They felt them- 
selves exiles, more remote than Juvenal on the dis- 
tant islet of the Nile, with no consolation but re- 
ligion, faith and philosophy. 

While Serra was temporarily absent from San 
Diego, Indians attacked the mission, slew several 
soldiers and churchmen and completely destroyed 
the partially finished structures. Padre Junipero, 
when told of the catastrophe, exclaimed : "At last 
our ground is watered by the blood of martyrs. 
Now we can go on and build and rebuild, for the 
land is consecrated to God." He hastened to re- 
turn to San Diego, but, on his arrival, was informed 
to his chagrin, that the viceroy contemplated aban- 
doning San Bias as a seaport for California and for- 
ward supplies overland through Sonora and Lower 
California, a distance of fifteen hundred miles. This 
insured practical isolation and destruction of the 
missions. Serra, who, while a profound churchman, 
was also a man of energy, resolute and undaunted, 
instantly determined that the high purpose "to 
whose success and enduring existence he had con- 
secrated his earthly labors," should not be igno- 
miniously lost. He directly started on foot with 
only one Indian companion for the palace of the 
viceroy, where he arrived after a most fatiguing 



EARLY DAYS 

and hazardous journey of four months over arid 
deserts and through unknown passes and defiles 
in the gaunt, barren mountains, without pausing 
to rest a single day. Fortunately, for such endur- 
ance and determination deserves better than fail- 
ure, the vacillating viceroy had been succeeded by 
another of different mould. 

The intellectual friar completely captivated 
Bucareli with his vivid and enthusiastic description 
of the ample plains, equable climate, magnificent 
mountains of California, and the incomparable har- 
bor of San Francisco. The new viceroy, enchanted 
to add so noble a domain to the realms of Spain, 
directed that a large vessel should be properly 
equipped and placed at the disposal of Serra, who 
loaded it at San Bias with necessaries for the new 
colonies. 

The viceroy also despatched a platoon of fifty 
soldiers with leather cuirasses, thus distinguished 
from the lighter armed troops of the Spanish 
army, overland to San Diego, whence they were 
to be distributed to the other missions, as in- 
structed. The old friar returned resplendent with 
joy and success to his doubtful and despondent 
colleagues. Such was the energy inspired by his 
presence, both in converting and constructing, that 
when Father Junipero Serra died at San Carlos, in 
1784, only fifteen years after his advent to Cali- 

9 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

fornia, he left sixteen missions and ten thousand 
Indian neophytes. 

These Indians had hitherto professed no really 
definite religion. Indubitably they were as bestial 
and degraded as the lowest of American aborigines, 
morally, mentally and religiously^ Other tribes 
possessed some faith; the Calif ornian Indians had 
none. Marriage was a prostituted rite. At San 
Francisco the monks found an Indian married to 
three sisters and their mother. The natives fished 
and hunted, but planted nothing ; and, even on the 
seashore, where there are cold, foggy days, and 
many of them, wandered without covering. 

They roamed over the immense territory in sparse 
numbers, killing with the arrow, elks, bears, deer, 
ducks and antelopes. Their existence was entirely 
nomadic, except on the seashore, where they built 
huts of reeds and twigs, adjacent to excellent fish- 
ing stations. They had no history, no memories, no 
known antecedents. Unwarlike, unoffending, docile 
and mentally inert, they became laborers and Chris- 
tians, with equal readiness and alacrity. Faithful 
to the padres, they were warmly attached to their 
local missions and as they increased in numbers 
became correspondingly useful and serviceable. 

Intelligence was not one of their attributes nor 
could they be appreciably educated. But as horse- 
men, ground tillers and keepers of the great herds 
of cattle, horses and sheep that gradually accumu- 

10 



EARLY DAYS 

lated in the environs of the numerous missions, they 
were excellent and reliable. 

Serra saw his work well commenced before he 
died. He would never take medicine and even 
with a lame leg walked hundreds of leagues. When 
remonstrated with by a muleteer on his carelessness, 
he said : ' ' Well then give me the same remedy that 
you apply to the sore leg of a mule, for I am no 
better." He preferred sleeping in the open, es- 
pecially when traveling, and used to say that it 
prolonged his life a dozen years to thus live. He 
always preserved both the independence and suzer- 
ainty of the church over the military, and consti- 
tuted himself chief of all the inhabitants of Cal- 
ifornia, a privilege that was sometimes claimed, 
but never exercised by his successors. His letters 
show courage, devotion and a prescient intelligence. 

He said that ''California will be richer and 
greater than Mexico" and evinced no desire to 
depart and return to Spain or Mexico, but directed 
where his remains should lie ; and at San Carlos he 
reposes in tranquillity, undisturbed by the sea birds 
that forever sail above and around his mauso- 
leum — the Founder of California. 

Like some dead people's fortunes which increase 
manyfold, too late for their enjoyment, the missions, 
after the demise of Serra, advanced amazingly in 
power, wealth and produce. 

In 1824 the numbers of cattle and other farm 
11 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

animals attached to the twenty-three missions ex- 
ceeded a million, the progeny of the few head taken 
in by Serra and his company five decades before. 

The native wild grape had been pruned and 
grafted until it yielded a delicious quality of red 
wine, stronger than European grades, but pleasant- 
ly savored. 

Many kinds of grain were grown on the ranches 
near the missions and fruit of every description 
abounded. Wild flowers covered the glens and 
glades; copses of fir and birch clung to the sides 
and summits of the towering mountains; game in 
abundance wandered over the grassy meadows, and 
the eternal sunshine of California — gentler and 
more resplendent than that of either Italy or Egypt 
— cheered and chastened the missionaries. Leaving 
far distant Spain, to cast their lot with the savages 
of this most remote and unknown quarter of the 
globe, they had found an Arcadia without parallel. 

But everything good and well becomes bad and 
ill: nothing remains changeless, and this era was 
the apogee of the friars' peace and tranquillity. 

A few years previously, Mexico had become in- 
dependent of Spain. With political came religious 
independence, and the rulers of the new republic 
heard with envy of the monks' prosperity in Cal- 
ifornia. 

Every friar, by the terms of the compact be- 
tween Bucareli and Serra, should have received 

12 



EARLY DAYS 

from the government the annual stipend of four 
hundred dollars; but, for years, nothing had been 
paid. The vessel, sailing every twelve months from 
San Bias to California, was laden with supplies 
ordered, and liquidated on arrival by the church- 
men. Indeed the missionaries could well do so. 
From the sale of hides alone a fund of a quarter 
million dollars in specie had been accumulated, 
and their other resources have been indicated. More- 
over, all the Franciscan friars in California were 
of Spanish birth and the newly enfranchised Mex- 
icans did not wish to acknowledge allegiance to 
either the Spanish throne or church. So up from 
the south came a Mexican governor, who constituted 
his capital at Monterey. While in apparent accord 
with the Franciscans, yet he granted them few 
privileges and treated them with rigor. They in a 
measure, claimed the whole country by right of 
discovery and settlement; but the church in every 
land must, like everything else, lie under the law, 
which protects both those who believe and those 
who doubt. Hence, the governor repudiated this 
assumption and invited settlers from Mexico and 
other countries, making large grants of land to the 
most potential newcomers. This encouraged immi- 
gration, and the immigrants enticed Indians from 
the missions to enter their own service. 

The governors, for one succeeded another with 
almost grotesque rapidity, were only consistent in 

13 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

one phase officially, and that was, hostility to the 
friars and their habitations. In 1846, when the 
Americans conquered California, the missions were 
even then decaying. The contrast between 1824 
and 1846 was pathetic, but otherwise, the Cali- 
fornians, as those Spaniards and Mexicans who 
dwelt permanently were called, continued to thrive 
and prosper. They were scattered over a distance 
of five hundred miles, all the way from San Diego 
to Shasta, and, with the land, animals and Indians 
filched from the poor padres, lived like veritable 
hidalgos. 

Riding like centaurs, on horses that were more 
enduring than the purest Arab, they would sup a 
hundred miles from where they breakfasted and 
never leave their own demesnes. In the contest 
with the Americans they numbered several thou- 
sand fearless horsemen, and conflicts of greater 
or lesser importance were fought in the same year, 
1846. The Californians were not enamored of Mex- 
ico and knew they were too weak to exist as an 
entity. An inchoate prejudice against Mexico 
smouldered at the period of the American irrup- 
tion, and therefore, after the taking of Los Angeles 
by the enemy, the Californians quietly disbanded 
and returned to the enjoyment of life, certain that 
the Americans would leave their lands and other 
property untouched. The treaty of 1847 between 
Mexico and the United States ceded California to 

14 



^■f WiM 







EARLY DAYS 

the latter and it became henceforth an integral por- 
tion of our country. 

Only a year prior to the gold discovery, while the 
land yet nestled in the lap of oblivion, Colonel Fre- 
mont, commander of volunteers and the Jason of 
California, was hastily summoned from Los Angeles 
to Monterey. Leaving the former place at early 
dawn with two companions, he rode one hundred 
and twenty-five miles before halting for the night. 
They had nine horses as a caballada, driving six 
ahead of them, running loose on the trail, and 
changing every twenty miles. The second day they 
made a hundred and thirty-five miles. On the 
third they did not start until eleven o'clock, yet 
travelled seventy miles, and on the fourth day, they 
dashed into Monterey at three o'clock, having rid- 
den ninety miles since morning, and four hun- 
dred and twenty miles in four days. Fremont 
and his party left on their return, the next day at 
four of the afternoon, galloping forty miles that 
afternoon, a hundred and twenty next day, and a 
hundred and thirty on the two succeeding days, 
arriving in Los Angeles on the ninth day from 
their departure. 

The distance going and coming is eight hundred 
and forty miles and the trail for the entire dis- 
tance led over steep hills, down gloomy defiles and 
precipitous declivities, and across wild unpeopled 
valleys, where only the sun and compass guided 

15 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

them. The actual hours in the saddle numbered 
seventy-six, about eleven miles an hour. 

Fremont rode the same horse forty miles on the 
afternoon he left Monterey and ninety miles more 
the day following, thus making one hundred and 
thirty miles in twenty-four hours on one steed. 

This charger, then left loose without a master, led 
the cavalcade thirty miles farther that afternoon 
until they came to his pastures. With the excep- 
tion of this one relay from Monterey the men rode 
the same nine animals going and returning. The 
horses were unshod and carried with riders the 
heavy Mexican saddles and bridles then univer- 
sally used. The whole adventure rivals Alex- 
ander's pursuit of Darius in Bactria. 

No Arabian steeds could surpass this feat. The 
California horses were relatively small, but with 
deep withers and broad flanks. Except in weight 
and color they very much resembled the Arabian 
stallions to be seen in the streets of Cairo. They 
were fed very little grain, but the rich grasses of 
the valleys near the shore were heavy and sus- 
taining. 

The legend of the lands, attractions and fertility, 
had floated meanwhile across the continent and 
men with and without families were traversing 
the plains from the western border states. 

In 1846 there were some three hundred volun- 
teers in the American ranks at Monterey, most of 

16 



EARLY DAYS 

whom had quite recently arrived. Of course the 
knowledge that California was under the American 
flag served still more to accelerate the hegira and 
during 1847 people from the "States" came in 
moderate numbers. It was in the winter of this same 
year that a wagon train from Missouri was caught 
in a driving storm near a small frozen lake on the 
summit of the high Sierras. Half of the number 
perished and some of those who survived did so by 
becoming cannibals. This is well established, and 
be it remembered that the tragedy occurred before 
the gold discovery. The sheet of water was named 
Donner Lake for one of the dead. 

A thousand volunteers had enlisted for the war 
and leaving New York City sailed around the 
Southern continent and landed in San Francisco 
in March, 1847, to find the country tranquil and 
all resistance ended. They disbanded and dispersed 
over the interior, a number remaining in San 
Francisco, which was rapidly superceding Mon- 
terey, though the latter yet remained the capital. 
Fortunately for these patriotic Americans the dis- 
covery of gold a few months later furnished them 
a boundless opportunity. 

Gold was found by accident in January, 1848, 
on a tributary of the Sacramento River, a few miles 
from Sutter's Fort. It is strange that the intelli- 
gence of this marvellous occurrence should have 
traveled so slowly, even in California. We read 

17 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

in the journal of an American navy chaplain 
at Monterey, as late as May, that ''our town was 
startled out of its quiet dreams today by the an- 
nouncement that gold had been discovered on the 
American Fork," and later, June 12th, "A strag- 
gler came in today from the American Fork bring- 
ing a piece of yellow ore weighing an ounce. The 
young dashed the dirt from their eyes and the old 
from their spectacles. One brought a spy-glass; 
another an iron ladle; some wanted to melt it; 
others to hammer it, and a few were satisfied to 
smell it. 

"All were full of tests and many who could not 
be gratified in making their experiments declared 
it a humbug. One lady sent me a huge gold ring 
in the hope of reaching the truth by comparison; 
while a gentleman placed the specimen on the top 
of his gold-headed cane and held it up, challenging 
the sharpest eyes to detect a difference. 

"But doubts still hovered in the minds of the 
great mass. They could not conceive that such a 
treasure could have lain so long undiscovered. The 
idea seemed to convict them of stupidity." 

No wonder: it was so startling and stupendous. 
The world yet trembles under the new system of 
life and existence then created. 

But a month later he writes differently: 

"The gold fever has reached every servant in 
Monterey: none are to be trusted in their engage- 
18 



EARLY DAYS 

ment beyond a week, and as for compulsion, it is 
like driving fish into a net with the ocean before 
them. General Mason, Lieutenant Lanman and my- 
self form a mess ; we have a house and all the table 
furniture and culinary apparatus requisite, but 
our servants have run, one after another, till we 
are almost in despair ; even Sambo, who we thought 
would stick by from laziness, if no other cause, 
ran last night, and this morning for the fortieth 
time we had to take to the kitchen and cook our 
own breakfast. 

"A general of the United States Army, the com- 
mander of a man-of-war and the Alcalde of Mon- 
terey, in a smoking kitchen, grinding coffee, toast- 
ing herring and peeling onions!" 

Three days later : 

"Another bag of gold from the mines and an- 
other spasm in the community. It was brought 
down by a sailor from Yuba River and contains 
one hundred and thirty-six ounces. It is the most 
beautiful gold that has appeared in the market. 
My carpenters at work on the school house, on see- 
ing it, threw down their saws and planes, shoul- 
dered their picks and are off for the Yuba. Three 
seamen ran from the Warren, forfeiting their four 
years' pay, and a whole platoon of soldiers from the 
fort left only their colors behind. 

* ' One old woman declared she would never again 
19 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

break an egg or kill a chicken without examining 
yolk and gizzard. ' ' 

So even in California, one of the most momen- 
tous events in the history of mankind was at first 
doubted, discredited and deprecated. Well it 
might be, for in my reading I cannot recall a simi- 
lar occurrence. Gold washing, it is true, has 
always been practiced and the metal found in small 
quantities. 

The Egyptians excavated trenches for gold near 
the Red Sea, the remains being yet visible, and 
English capital is today exploiting the Pharaohonic 
mines. But these were government properties 
working convict laborers over a very limited area. 
Other parts of the world had also yielded gold, 
but never was it until now discovered in such 
masses so free to every one and scattered over such 
a diverse territory. We must remember that this 
was before Australia, The Klondike and South 
Africa. 

Our minds today are habituated to these and 
many other marvelous happenings and inventions 
of which our forbears never knew or dreamt; but 
the finding of gold in California in 18-18 startled 
the world as nothing since or before has done. Per- 
haps it was the most astounding discovery during 
the Christian era and certainly it is only today 
that we are really becoming concerned about the 
recent vast increase in the precious metals. 
20 



EARLY DAYS 

Nevertheless, as the intelligence percolated 
through channels and arteries of communication 
to distant countries, with all the alluring possi- 
bilities of a fortune picked from fertile earth, peo- 
ple appeared like vultures from the clear sky. 
They came across the Isthmus of Panama and 
around the Southern continent and over the North- 
ern continent. They came by land and sea, on foot 
and horse ; by sail and steamer. 

From east and west and south the lure of gold 
enticed them as it should, for with gold we pur- 
chase everything but happiness, and that belongs 
to none. There were more Chinese in California in 
1849 than Europe had welcomed in a thousand 
years. 

Flour came from Chili and with it Chilians, 
Peruvians and throngs of Sonorians. These Latins 
dug all day and gambled all night. Their principal 
rivals were the Chinese, but the latter did not ac- 
quire the same privileges. It is related that a small 
party of Americans, traveling to the goldfields, en- 
countered a number of returning Sonorians. 
These had tied rags on their blistered feet and 
looked forlorn and wretched, driving skeleton 
mules. They were starving and begged for food. 
A little pork and biscuit was offered by the incom- 
ers and the Sonorians took from the back of one of 
the mules a bag of gold and insisted on giving a 
a couple of pounds in exchange for the meagre 

21 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

supply. They had five hundred pounds of gold 
on their perishing animals, including one mass 
weighing twenty-three pounds, yet such was their 
improvidence that they might have perished, with 
only the metal for companionship. 

Two men who gambled away at night the gold 
they dug during the day, desperate, left Tuolumne. 
Presently they descried a couple of returning min- 
ers sleeping under a tree. Approaching stealthily 
they shot the sleepers, looted the gold and fled 
south, avoiding Stockton and camping in the hills. 

The next day they encountered three men who 
had just deserted from a United States vessel of 
war at San Francisco. The five stayed for the 
night with an English settler by whom they were 
kindly entertained and who frankly told them of 
his success at the mines. 

After leaving in the early morning, they coun- 
selled, resolved together, and hastily retracing 
their steps, surprised, killed their host, and then 
inhumanly murdered his wife, children, and 
Indian servants, in fact, every human being on the 
ranch, to the number of twelve. Gathering the 
gold, they fled, but faster followed the avengers 
when the woeful tragedy was known. 

Mounted on fleet California steeds, the pursuers 
overtook the fugitives by the sea, south of Santa Bar- 
bara. One of the outlaws was slain and, a second, 
22 



EARLY DAYS 

finding escape hopeless, sprang into the deep waters 
that received him in an everlasting tomb. The re- 
maining three surrendered and were tried at once 
by an impromptu jury of twelve citizens chosen 
from the victors. The gold dust was easily found 
among their slender effects. The crime was proven 
and admitted. The jury promptly sentenced them 
to death and before sunset the three assassins were 
dangling at the end of a tree branch quietly wav- 
ing over the waters of the Pacific Ocean far below. 
This I believe was the first case of lynching after 
the American control and it occurred in 1848. 

There was no law to try assassins, no courts to 
condemn them, no prisons in which to incarcerate 
them. The first and best (because just) mandate 
is to preserve society by punishing criminals. Life 
for life is a decree that will never be forgotten, 
and if the tribunals do not enforce it, men will. 
The grave is the only prison that should enclose a 
murderer. 

Remote as was the goal, half of a long year from 
New York and Europe, except via Panama, yet 
came the world, ever thronging and thronging. The 
caravan of wagons extended over the valleys and 
topped the mountains from Missouri to California. 

Ships sailing from New York, sweeping by the 
misty, rocky, stormy coasts of Terra Del Fuego, 
constituted a continuous fleet. The early establish- 
ment of a double line of steamers with the Isthmus 

23 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

as a bridge made transportation rapid and con- 
venient. Each person, wagon, animal and vessel 
was laden to his or its capacity. There were no 
drones, animate or inanimate. Withal, during that 
extraordinary year 1849, though forty-four sea- 
going vessels lay empty in the bay of San Francisco, 
tides swaying their silent decks with the coming 
and going of the moon — flour in the gold fields sold 
at two dollars, coffee four dollars per pound, and 
eggs at one, two and three dollars each. On those 
forty-four vessels, whose crews had deserted — los- 
ing in many cases a year's pay — only the watch- 
men remained, for even the captains and other 
officers had secretly absconded. What wonder when 
lucky miners uncovered a thousand dollars between 
sunrise and sunset — and no one gained less than 
twenty dollars if he diligently dug! Twenty dol- 
lars a day to sailors whose wage was the same 
sum monthly ! In the calm, warm summer and 
autumn, the miners, though not entirely acclimated, 
retained good health. There is nothing harmful 
in sleeping under the shadowing limbs of a lofty 
pine covered only by the starlight. 

And these men were young. The average of the 
arrivals in that sparkling year of 1849, California 's 
birthday, did not exceed twenty-five. They resem- 
bled the soldiers of Napoleon in his first Italian 
campaigns. They had come far, had nothing but 
24 



EARLY DAYS 

youth and courage and therefore ventured much 
and yet little. 

The incomprehensible price of food obtained only 
at the mines, several hundred miles from the sea- 
board. All supplies were transported on the backs 
of animals and men over a dry, dusty, hot, broad 
and still broader plain, and then up sheer acclivi- 
ties and across the soaring mountains. 

The hopeful horde, laden with mining and cook- 
ing utensils, swarmed the roads leading to their 
paradise, singing, cheering, jesting — the happiest, 
heartiest, merriest crusaders since Richard of 
England. It was not hardship, sleeping under 
a California sky. No rain in the summer 
months made the days pleasant, though dusty. 
Many of the successful gold hunters returned to 
San Francisco after a fortunate season and incred- 
ible stories are legendary of their gambling and 
revelries. They drank like Alexander's officers, 
banqueted like Lucullus, and dissipated like Roman 
patricians. 

The town of San Francisco embraced only two 
or three squares, including frame dwellings and 
tents. To complete a certain structure lumber was 
bought at a dollar per foot. 

After the edifice was occupied, a Methodist 
clergyman was granted permission to hold service. 
Though gambling tables, at which the games never 
ceased, encompassed him, he was listened to with 

25 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

respect and attention. A liberal collection was 
made directly and handed the minister by an old 
sailor, with the comforting observation: "Parson, 
that was a damned good sermon ! ' ' While so dis- 
tant from the world these men of '48 and '49 did 
not repine. It was before the era of murders and 
vigilance committees. 

Gold was abundant and all were young, buoyant, 
and hopeful. There existed neither police, society, 
nor clubs; yet good order was maintained. The 
alcalde had plenary powers which he exercised with 
discretion. The newly-arrived sometimes fared 
hardly. On one occasion a man secreted a small 
quantity of gold dust under the sand of a street. 
He then took a pan and began "prospecting." 
Presently he very naturally came to his deposit 
and after uncovering the sand and washing it in the 
stream hard by, lo ! there was the gold. A number 
of strangers just off a steamer at once went to the 
nearest shop, bought pans and patiently worked 
all day — without, of course, finding anything — only 
to learn in the evening the whole ruse, together 
with the fact that the shopkeeper had sold them 
all his tin pans at about ten times the normal 
price — "a Yankee trick." 

The necessity of an orderly American administra- 
tion was recognized. California was a territory 
governed by a military officer appointed by the 
President. But his authority was general and not 
26 



EARLY DAYS 

local. By the summer of 1849, myriads peopled 
the country, extending from the gold fields to the 
seacoast. Conventions were held in the several 
localities, delegates elected and those chosen assem- 
bled in Monterey, where, after several weeks of 
discussion, they adopted and submitted to the pop- 
ulace a framed constitution for the embryo State 
of California. Eight of the forty-eight delegates 
were native Californians of Spanish descent — no 
inconsiderable proportion — which exhibits very 
clearly the sincerity and cordiality with which the 
old aristocracy fused with the new life and nation. 

The constitution expressly prohibited slavery and 
one of the forty-eight delegates was William M. 
Gwin. A month later the people sanctioned its 
authority by an almost unanimous vote, and on the 
convening of the first California legislature at 
Monterey, two United States senators, John C. Fre- 
mont and William M. Gwin were elected. Gwin 
came to California from Mississippi in 1849. Fre- 
mont had led the American volunteers with courage 
and success during the short war of 1846 between 
the native Californians and the forces of the 
United States. By chance allotment between the 
two men, Fremont's term would expire in 1851 
and Gwin's in March, 1855. 

Under the constitution of the United States they 
could not be recognized by the federal Senate until 
after Congress had approved the constitution of the 

27 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

State of California and the President had an- 
nounced by proclamation its entrance to the sister- 
hood of states, which latter final preliminary was 
promulgated in September, 1850, when California 
became the thirty-first state in the federal union. 
One of the local Senators from San Francisco re- 
signed shortly after the session had commenced. An 
election was held to fill the vacancy and the suc- 
cessful candidate was sworn in on the 24th of 
January, 1850. His name was David Colbert 
Broderick. 



28 



CHAPTER II 

NEW YORK 

When Broderick was fourteen his father died. 
From Washington, D. C, where Broderick was 
born, the family had removed to New York City. 

The parent was a stone artisan and at his death 
the fatherless boy found but little saved to support 
his mother and younger brother. He began the 
struggle of life early, very early, and in a sombre 
way. He apprenticed himself as a stone cutter — 
his father's calling — and remained with his em- 
ployer faithfully during the five years of his in- 
denture. There were no night schools, and the boy 
worked all day and every day plying this humble 
vocation, with the winds and the sunshine as daily 
companions. He grew strong and reliant. He had 
few boyhood comrades and no adventures. In fact 
he seems never to have been a boy. From the 
beginning he was brooding and thoughtful. 

Christopher street and the other streets near by 
were the scenes of nightly brawls, quarrels and 
rivalries between the younger men who lived in the 
locality. Broderick w^as one of the rudest, rough- 
est, most aggressive and truculent. He was ever 
ready for a fight and whether he whipped or was 

29 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

whipped (and both occurred many times) he was 
willing and undaunted for the next fracas. 

After he became United States senator a few 
of his early conquerors foregathered near the favor- 
ite resorts and told again and again "how they 
had licked Dave." 

The fire engines of New York were handled 
by volunteer firemen whose principal function was 
not alone to fight fires, but everything else, espe- 
cially other firemen. To the chief headship of one 
of these engine companies Broderick fought his 
way, as, in somewhat different circumstances, did 
Spartacus of old. He became foreman of No. 34 
when he was only twenty. 

With this position as a lever he entered into ward 
politics and soon became distinctive as one who 
could fight ; gain and keep friends and promises. 

Directly he was of age he was appointed to a 
position in the federal service, and, as has been 
done frequently since by others, perhaps his most 
onerous duty was to draw the salary. He cer- 
tainly found leisure to keep his engine and com- 
pany the most complete in its equipment and dis- 
cipline in the city; to attend every ward meeting 
of his party, where frequently there were blows 
as well as words, and to own a saloon. 

Alter all, no one's career is as one could wish. 
We have all done, perforce, things we would not 
have done willingly. It is only a question of men- 
30 



NEW YORK 

tal or moral vision whether one trade is better or 
worse than another. Keeping a grog shop may be I 
a misfortune, but it cannot be a crime. Broderick 
kept one and then possessed a second, finer and 
larger than the first. Yet he never drank a drop of 
spirits from birth to death. His customers were 
principally firemen and local politicians. 

His mother died and a little later his younger 
brother was accidentally killed. Broderick was left 
entirely alone. Years afterward in the Senate he 
said that ''he did not know a single human being 
in whom flowed a drop of his blood. ' ' His ances- 
try was Irish and people of that race are usually 
prolific, but the man seemed doomed to be alone — 
lonely through life. 

Gradually his thorough application to whatever 
he essayed won him friends, adherents and stand- 
ing. He became the representative for Tammany 
from his ward; was given consideration by his 
political superiors; and, when only twenty-six 
years old, one year above the constitutional 
requirement, was made the regular nominee of his 
party — the Democratic — for Congress. But Brod- 
erick had the faculty of making more bitter, 
rancorous and vindictive enemies than most men 
that one reads of in modern political life. He 
was stubborn, positive, unrelenting, and unfor- 
giving. While not quick with his brain and 
tongue, he spoke indeed rather distinctly and de- 

31 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

liberately, yet his manner was repellant to those 
he did not like and it was difficult for him to be 
diplomatic. 

These personal characteristics so well recognized 
in his later California career were part of his 
gloomy being and, even in New York at this early 
stage, made him friends who would die for him and 
enemies who would make him die if possible. 

Broderick was the regular nominee of the Dem- 
ocratic party, which was largely superior in num- 
bers to the Whigs in the district; but an aristo- 
cratic Democrat ran as a third candidate, thus 
dividing the Democratic vote and electing the Whig. 

At that era a revolt from the party organization 
was rare ; people were not so reliant and free from 
party servility as today; the fetich of a name was 
worshipped and so the gravity of this defection 
from Broderick was pronounced. Perhaps an anec- 
dote will index his character and why he pos- 
sessed such ruthless adversaries. President Tyler 
had received and accepted an invitation to visit 
New York City. A committee of city officials, ac- 
companied by eminent foreign guests, embarked on 
a steamer to meet the President on the New Jersey 
shore. Although elected a Whig, Tyler was co- 
quetting with the Democrats, and so, Tammany 
Hall also selected a committee, or rather two com- 
mittees, to tender homage to the President. 
32 




^#^,^..^-^^ 



Ccyt-^-^^ 



NEW YORK 

One committee represented the ultra aristocratic 
element — for Tammany was then respectable — 
and the other was also a Tammany selection, 
being made up of young men as distinct from the 
old men — in other words, the classes against the 
masses. Broderick was of this second committee, 
which was expected to gaze, be humble and silent. 
However, the forty sachems — twenty and twenty — 
after disembarking from their steamer, walked to 
the President's residence and, while the mighty 
rich were awaiting on the lawn the President's 
appearance, Broderick strode to the door alone, 
opened, entered and presently returned with the 
President of the United States on his arm. Con- 
ducting Tyler to the astounded group he saluted the 
President and then said in the same loud, clear tones 
as when directing his fire laddies at a conflagration : 
"Now men form a round circle and the President 
will talk to you. ' ' For a moment no one moved, so 
completely aghast were they, until one of the im- 
maculates said, like a philosopher : * ' Come, gentle- 
men, give attention to the President," and Tyler 
delivered a short address. But even then Broderick 
was not done. After the President ceased he very 
naturally turned to Broderick as the leader, and 
the latter, quietly taking the President's arm with 
an injunction to all Knickerbockers and firemen to 
' ' form the line of march, ' ' led the way to the land- 
ing, whence the tardy boat containing the real city 

33 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

committee, with its music and platoons of uniforms, 
had just arrived. 

Broderick was hardly persuaded to surrender 
his prisoner to the other committee, as he hoped to 
take him in the Tammany boat to New York. He 
had, however, the grim satisfaction of balking his 
aristocratic enemies. Not bad for a young man of 
twenty-five ! But it cost him a seat in Congress. 

Writing of these days, Gen. Daniel E. Sickles 
says: "Though I was a member of the opposite 
party, I was so impressed with Broderick 's strong 
personality and with his prospect of splendid use- 
fulness should he be sent to Congress, that I worked 
and voted for him. It was not until after the 
election was over that he knew of my efforts in his 
behalf. "When he did find it out he came to me and 
thanked me for my support and pledged me his aid 
if I should ever need his services. He renewed 
this pledge just before his departure for California. 
I remember that in his gallant way he said to me : 
' If you ever need me I Avill be your slave. ' In bid- 
ding me good-bye he told me that if he ever re- 
turned to the East he would return as a United 
States senator from the new and untrammelled 
state of California. This he did." 

Let it be remembered that when Broderick ex- 
pressed this resolve there was no state of Califor- 
nia, nor did it exist until nearly two years later. 
34 



NEW YORK 

Evidently he had faith and confidence in the future. 
No one succeeds who does not fight to win. 

After his defeat for Congress he continued his 
previous vocations. 

At the next state election the Democrats were 
beaten, which made his chance of success dubious, 
even if "nominated a second time. 

Then came tidings from far-away California. 
Stevenson 's battalion of New York volunteers, who 
arrived in the enchanted land before the gold find, 
sent alluring letters to their friends. Colonel Ste- 
venson, well known to Broderick, had written : 
"Come, leave there, and try this new land, this 
El Dorado." 

Around him were friends and acquaintances dis- 
posing, like Alexander, of all their effects and 
thronging every steamer. What was he to do ? His 
political future looked blank. The life he lived 
and his daily associations were repugnant. He 
longed for a broader scope and a higher terrace 
on which to crown a career. Above all the lure of 
a United States senatorship fevered his brain and 
made more intense his restless, ambitious disposi- 
tion. 

These were the days of the great triumvirate — 
Webster, Clay, Calhoun. It was worth while to 
sit among those men and be one of them. They 
were free as the eagle, unbound, unbought, belong- 
ing to nobody but themselves, yet forced to exercise 

35 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the best powers of mind and intellect to be noticed 
and commended among their colleagues in that ex- 
alted station. 

Broderick never sought money. His character 
istics were essentially governing and not commer- 
cial. Success in one is difficult ; in both still more. 
He chose the first. Therefore his present existence 
was doubly distasteful. 

Yet it is not so very tranquillizing to desert the 
old life, home and associates, perhaps forever, and 
to seek a new land, new life. Hesitancy was one 
of his missing qualities. He lingered and lingered 
despite his characteristic determination, which or- 
dinarily made it easy for him to resolve and exe- 
cute. At length, one morning, he broached all his 
casks in the street, saying that he never would 
"sell, nor drink liquor, smoke a cigar, or play 
a card." That vow he kept in all the dissipations, 
allurements and excitements that environed his 
California existence. 

He left New York on a steamer and debarked 
at Chagres. There was no railway in 1849, and 
travelers went up the Chagres River by boat and 
thence by land to Panama. It was a wet, dirty, 
hot, unhealthy journey and the miseries of the 
crossing have never been adequately portrayed. 

At the very outset, the town of Chagres itself 
was a dreadful place. On the thresholds of the 
doors and in the huts were thrown hides, bullocks' 
36 



NEW YORK 

heads, fish, cattle and other animals putrefying in 
the damp, tropical atmosphere. Part of this was 
food. 

No one remained in Chagres more than one night, 
but at the risk of a malignant fever. The next day 
and the next and again a third were spent poling 
up the small, narrow, tortuous stream, tormented 
by gnats and mosquitoes. On shore the ants came 
for their loot. 

Cholera and yellow fever were epidemic on the 
Isthmus, especially in the rainy months. It is on 
record that of twelve gold-seekers arriving at 
Chagres from an English port but one appeared 
at Panama a week later. The eleven others died 
en route of yellow fever. Fifty thousand adven- 
turous young men invaded California that year and 
a moiety toiled through the dark, fever-dripping 
forests and up the miasmatic stream. One hun- 
dred and fifty years previous, Morgan and his 
buccaneers made the same desperate struggle and 
for the same guerdon — gold. 

We have not nor we will not change. Yet these 
death-clinging paths lay through a thick jungle of 
palms, teaks and every variety of rich fern. After 
rain storms the refreshed air would be mellow with 
a sweet fragrance distilled from the thirsty 
epiphytes. Fortunately Panama was relatively 
healthy, and no one stayed or rested between 
Chagres and Panama except those who still rest on. 

37 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Ships clustered at Chagres from many different 
world lanes — Britain, France, Italy, New York, 
New Orleans, Havana and other places, but on the 
Pacific shores Panama was the only point connected 
by steamers with the Mecca — San Francisco. 
Hence Panama was always thronged and crowded 
and vessels at this early period were far more nu- 
merous on the Pacific than on the Atlantic. 

These were pleasant days for the old Spanish 
town and wanderers have complacently discoursed 
of the monkeys, bananas, cock-fights and bull-fights ; 
of the old cracking walls with the older brass can- 
non that had not been discharged within the mem- 
ory of any living man; of the quaint church and 
quainter houses, and of narrow sun-shaded avenues 
where the mandolin and guitar accompanied the 
sloe-eyed senoritas warbling ' ' La Golondrina. ' ' But 
none of these terrors or pleasures seem to have 
disturbed or interested the moody, firm-faced young 
man from New York, who crossed the deadly Isth- 
mus unscathed, speedily leaving Panama and com- 
ing up the Coast without mishap. 

On a fair June eve in 1849 the Stella, round- 
ing the southerly rocky point, with the northerly 
bluffs extending far to the westward, passed 
through the Golden Gate, encompassed by treeless, 
grassiess, verdureless hills and, sweeping from east 
to south, ceased from her long voyage in the placid 
depths of San Francisco harbor. 

38 



NEW YORK 

On the tar eastern horizon a range of mountains, 
separated from the waters by a wide and charming 
valley, extended for miles north and south. The 
bay itself, one of the three safest and most commo- 
dious havens in the world, stretched for leagues 
and leagues to the east, north and south and from 
the west the setting sun's rays glided through the 
straight and narrow entrance, illuminating with 
mellow radiance this portal of the Land of Gold. 
Of the multitudes who thronged the muddy shores, 
restlessly awaiting the arrival, with its messages of 
loves and tears from distant kindred and friends, 
coming o'er the world's wide compass, were some 
who in later years gathered sweet and bitter leaves 
from life's tree. But of all these adventurous Ar- 
gonauts there was none whose future existence and 
death was destined to be more weird, tragical and 
picturesque than that of this newcomer, -who with 
sedate visage looked steadfastly upon the panorama 
that stretched before him in the place whither he 
had come to win and to die. 

He was twenty-nine years old, of good height and 
weight, with superb physique and strength. Few 
men could cope with him in wrestling and he was 
an excellent boxer. His ruddy brown beard covered 
his face, and his hair, slightly dark, was plentiful. 
It was not then the custom to wear a moustache. 
Indeed the Southern statesmen followed Clay and 
Jackson's example, who, like the Romans, went 

39 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

with shaven faces ; but the Northerners wore beards. 
Even then, and in remote California, the differences 
and prejudices between the two sections, culminating 
a decade afterwards in the Civil War, were clearly 
visible in their personal appearance. 

Broderick's large mouth was filled with strong, 
white teeth, but his heavy upper lip was unpleas- 
ant, and his sombre countenance not cheerful. He 
looked like one always thinking; one of those men 
whom Caesar would have disliked. His steel-blue 
eyes met one, not glitteringly, but with a depth and 
steadfastness that strongl,y impressed. 

One can not look at his face and call it attractive, 
but it is the face of a man who thinks, resolves and 
acts without taking counsel. One can understand 
that it was difficult to disagree with him in con- 
versation, he was so positive, not to say dogmatic 
or domineering. Like Henry II, he seldom smiled 
and witticisms were foreign to his nature. He had 
come resolved to sacrifice all milder pleasures and 
endearments on Ambition's altar. He won, but 
the price was death. 



40 



CHAPTER III 

1849 

In the good year 1849 the boundaries of Cali- 
fornia were not adjusted, nor its exact extent 
known. Today with seven hundred miles of coast- 
line backed by over seventy leagues of valley, plain, 
and mountain, it yields only to Texas in area, of all 
the fifty commonwealths embraced in the nation. 

The most northerly of the twenty-three missions 
built by the padres were on the upper borders of 
San Francisco Bay. These were also the last. They 
were gradually constructed from south to north, 
each mission being about a good day's canter from 
another; but after the last one at Sonoma was 
founded came the Mexican governors, then the 
gringos, then chaos. 

A confirmation is afforded by observing the lo- 
cal nomenclature. South of Sonoma are sweet 
sounding, sibilant, Spanish accents. But north of 
Sonoma come the harsh, unyielding American 
words, reeking with consonants instead of vowels. 

The old friars named every place of importance 
within their demesnes and I am glad that these soft 
Castillian phrases have been retained by the Amer- 
icans who succeeded to the lands and fruits 
thereof. 

41 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

California was claimed by the early native Cali- 
fornians to extend northerly for many leagues 
beyond Sonoma but the location of the line was 
unknown, it never having been surveyed by their 
officials. 

Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento River, thirty 
leagues northeast of San Francisco, was built, for- 
tified, and held bj^ Captain Sutter, a Swiss, who ac- 
knowledged none, or a very slight, allegiance to the 
Mexican authorities. He was not disturbed nor 
molested by the Californians. Indeed, there was 
never a platoon of soldiers or a mission within 
many miles of Sutter's establishment. It is to 
be recorded that the gold invaders stripped him 
of his wealth in cattle and lands, slaughtering the 
one for food and squatting on the other, until the 
broad and fertile valleys were involved in endless 
litigation. It would have fared ill with many of 
the Americans had there been no Sutter to welcome 
and nourish them from his abundant stores, when 
their weary caravans came to his hospitable por- 
tals, after months of travel over arid and barren 
plains, snow and ice-capped mountain ranges be- 
set by Indians, disease and famine. It was just, 
it was Christian to give succor, but it was often 
repaid only by ingratitude. Before the advent of 
the Americans he was lord of thousands of fruit- 
ful acres; owner of myriads of fat cattle; sheep, 
mules and horses, with scores of Indian subjects, 
42 



1849 

who willingly did his behests. The Californians 
feared and respected his tact, power and sterling 
good judgment. He was superior to all, and could 
look confidently forward to establishing a little 
principality of his own. Through the irony of 
fate, gold was first exposed on his property by 
one of his employees who promptly imparted the 
potent intelligence to General Sutter. The latter 
eagerly gave the tidings to the world. In a very few 
years he was stripped of nearly all his possessions 
and died in Washington at the close of his cheq- 
uered career, vainly beseeching Congress for some 
restitution of the princely fortune, filched from 
him by the Americans. 

His fate was somewhat akin to the fates of 
Columbus and Balboa. They all won, and the 
victory was the cause of their later utter desola- 
tion. 

The hordes that devoured Sutter's substance, 
were only a fragment of the mighty mass of men, 
rushing to the lure of gold and which reached 
its apogee in 1849. In that year the immigratipn 
exceeded any other twelve months preceding or 
subsequent thereto. The adventurers embraced 
several thousand Orientals, who, even at that early 
day, came across the wide ocean seeking fortune 
on a foreign shore. All landed at San Francisco 
and journeyed thence to the mines which were on 
the westerly slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains 

43 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

and foothills. The auriferous area was gradually 
increased by discoveries, but it was not until years 
later that the vast extent was known and explored. 

Shasta and Los Angeles were both obscure. The 
latter was a dusty, dirty, miserable little hamlet, 
where existed a few Californians and Indians, liv- 
ing in one-room adobe huts. The wealth of fruit 
and wine that now makes it the paradise of the 
West was undreampt of in that era and none 
could divine its bright destiny. Between Los An- 
geles and San Diego lay forty leagues of barren 
mesa lands, over which wandered cattle and a few 
natives. No other place deserving a name except 
the missions could be located within a hundred 
miles of Los Angeles. The San Joaquin Valley 
was frequented only by game and cattle, roaming 
freely without restraint, each careless of the other 's 
presence; and the oblong periphery of San Fran- 
cisco Bay was void of inhabitants save in "the 
City," Benicia, and the missions. 

Hence the relation between the town and the 
mines was close and binding for there was noth- 
ing else. No agriculture of any kind ; nothing was 
raised. Everything was brought to the city by 
water and thence to the mines in one way or every 
way thinkable. 

The glut of merchandise, imported in the scores 
of vessels, occasioned curious incidents at times. It 
is related that during the winter of '49 which was 
44 



1849 

very rainy, boxes of tobacco unopened were thrown 
into the crossings over some of the streets. To- 
bacco was so plentiful and unsalable that it was 
actually cheaper to make of the boxes a foot way 
than to construct a bridge of lumber. Mules are 
said to have been lost in the mud and an old cari- 
cature of that eventful period represents men walk- 
ing or wading in thoroughfares up to their waists 
in mud while others are being pulled out by friends 
as if from a quicksand. The habitations were 
tents, and wooden houses with cloth linings, ranged 
close together on both sides of narrow streets. 
Therefore, when a fire occurred it did good busi- 
ness, as there were ample materials for an exhibi- 
tion. Four fires occurred in nine months each tak- 
ing a little of what was left by the preceding one, 
so that it w^as said after the last that the next 
conflagration would have to begin all over again, as 
of the earliest structures, there was not one left. 
The people literally lived in the streets, there 
being very few dwellings, but plenty of hotels and 
boarding-houses, and shaps with lofts where the 
owners slept. There were no theatres, but many 
drinking and gambling resorts which, brightly 
lighted and thronged with the world's tribute, were 
attractive and inviting. Orientals, the most im- 
passive and consistent gamblers on the globe, 
chanced their ounces at the tables side by side 
with Occidentals, and lost or won with a fatalist's 

phlegm. 

45 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

All night long, the restless mass came and went, 
drinking and gaming. The medium of exchange 
was gold dust carried in a deer skin bag, from 
which the varying quantities would be weighed on 
a pair of gold scales, with which every business 
establishment was provided. 

But very few women or families had come into 
the land and the men were young, fine, healthy, 
hopeful, sunny beings — the salt of the earth. Every 
one carried a revolver attached, on the right side, 
to a leather belt, buckled aroimd the waist, and 
the convenience of the weapon encouraged and 
incited affrays. Men cannot shoot if they leave 
their weapons at home. All this has been since 
repeated in other gold countries. Australia, South 
Africa, the Klonclilce; and the scenes just limned 
have subsequently had their prototypes more than 
once or twice; but the first experiences of this 
nomadic, restless, wandering, intense, and novel 
existence were in California. Besides, assaults and 
crimes were committed in San Francisco and in 
the interior, that did not occur, or, at least, oc- 
curred in a very much lesser degree, in the British 
possessions. British justice may not appear on the 
law books as superior to our own, but as it is regu- 
lated and applied by British judges, it protects 
life and punishes criminals. Here we protect crim- 
inals and punish life. If we had fewer lawyers and 
less law it would be a relief and an advancement. 
46 



1849 

The medley aggregation congregated in the town 
and country, embraced some eccentrics. It would 
be odd if so many nations could not supply dif- 
ferent varieties of human nature to laugh or weep. 

A man who had accumulated many pounds of 
gold enjoyed his wealth in a novel manner. He 
would spread sheets on the floor, pour the metal 
on them ; walk upon it ; roll in it ; cast it around 
the apartment in handfuls and let the golden 
stream descend over his head and body like Jupi- 
ter upon Danae. 

A New Yorker, just disembarked from a Panama 
steamer, carried in his hand a bunch of six pine- 
apples. He was presently accosted by a man who 
said abruptly, pointing to the fruit: "Do you 
want to sell them?" 

"Well, yes." 

"How much?" 

"Well," with doubt and hesitation for he was 
in a new world where the gold grew upon the 
trees. ' ' Well, you may have them for ten dollars. ' ' 

"Here's your money," said the buyer. 

Directly afterwards other men, strolling along 
the water front, saw the luscious product of the 
tropics and one of them said to the new owner, 
"How many are there in the bunch?" 

"Six." 

"Want to sell 'em all?" 

"No." 

47 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

"Will you sell three?" 

''Yes." 

"How much?" 

"Fifteen dollars." 

"Here's your mouey," and he walked off leav- 
ing the first buyer with three fine pineapples and 
five dollars. The New Yorker glided away with 
that abstract expression of feature that belongs to 
new students of Euclid. 

The costume, besides the universal revolver, 
comprised a red shirt, corduroy breeches, and top 
boots. The red shirt, sometimes blue, was espe- 
cially in demand. To note a man walking in this 
apparel without coat or waistcoat and with his 
head surmounted by a black silk top hat would 
seem to us an amusing incongruity; still it was 
the prevailing style among the richer residents. 

Amid such scenes and people, Broderick began 
his new life. He commenced with a resolute spirit 
and purpose few of those who preceded or followed 
could rival or excel. Before many days he con- 
ceived a clever and ingenious undertaking. Gold 
and silver coins, together with gold dust were the 
medium of exchange. There was no paper money 
or currency, nor was there a mint to transmute 
the metal morsels into coined money. The customs 
dues were large and the government would receive 
in payment only gold and silver coins. 

The bulk of the money was brought in by the 
48 



1849 

Americans and other immigrants, and as all sums 
were retained by the government, except the much 
smaller amounts disbursed as salaries to federal 
officers, the scarcity of gold coins became daily more 
acute. 

Broderick formed a business relationship with 
an assayer and at once began the manufacture 
of five-and ten-dollar gold coins or "slugs" 
the intrinsic value of the metal contained in each 
coin relatively, being only four and eight dollars. 
These bore an inscription consisting simply of the 
date, location of coinage and the value in dollars. 

The coins readil}^ passed current in the com- 
munity, for they were far more convenient and 
comfortable than parcels of gold dust, even if 
every one knew that the intrinsic was something 
less than the face value. Tradespeople received 
and paid them freely. Only the last holders could 
suffer. Governments stamp a piece of paper with 
some marks and signs and directly it becomes of 
value. Why should not private persons do the 
same in the absence of official prohibition? Brod- 
erick proceeded on this assumption and gained im- 
mense profits. 

I have said already that he was not a commercial 
business man, and yet when I reflect, I must admit 
that the few enterprises in which he engaged were 
distinct successes. 

He added to assaying, the manufacture of jew- 
49 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

elry and himself used a sledge hammer in the 
stamping press. He retained his interest in the 
business while absent in the legislature. 

Nothing important occurred during the latter 
part of his first session, while he was serving the 
unexpired term of his predecessor, which began in 
the autumn of 1849. New elections were held and 
Broderick was again returned to the state Senate 
representing the City of San Francisco. 

In January, 1851, hardly a fortnight after the 
assembling, occurred the first of his California 
rencounters by which he was destined, alas, to be 
fated. The governor resigned and, under the law, 
the lieutenant governor succeeded to the station 
thus vacated. The president of the Senate was the 
lieutenant governor. His promotion to the higher 
place left his own vacant. Broderick was at once 
indicated as an aspirant. There was a joint meet- 
ing of the Senate and the Assembly. 

A member of the Assembly named Moore de- 
livered a short address stating that he was "op- 
posed to the resignation of good men especially 
when they were to be succeeded in the office by 
persons about whose character I know nothing. ' ' 

This was understood to apply to Broderick. The 
latter who would brook nothing, at once arose and 
made a caustic retort. The body adjourned in due 
course and later in the day the Senate met and 
elected Broderick lieutenant governor of Califor- 
50 



km'=^m. 








1849 

nia. He was advancing. Only a little over a year 
in the country and already lieutenant governor. 
An hour later nothing but cool courage and cahn- 
ness saved his ambitious soul from extinction. 
That evening Broderick accompanied by a friend 
passed Moore on a street. After passing, Broder- 
ick heard the words "scoundrel, rascal," used by 
Moore. Broderick turned on his heel and faced 
him. Moore produced a revolver and re- 
peated the words. Broderick immediately struck at 
him but missed, and Moore was then seized and 
disarmed. He was taken into an apartment ad- 
joining, but presently rushed out again to Brod- 
erick on the street. Some one had given Moore 
another or the same weapon, and the furious man, 
who possessed an unenviable reputation as a des- 
perado, levelled his weapon within a yard of Brod- 
erick who stood immobile, saying, "I will shoot 
you, you scoundrel!" There was a cry of "he's 
going to fire!" and the crowd scattered. But 
Broderick, turning his steel-blue eyes sparkling 
with fire on his assailant cried: "You cowardly 
assassin, why don't you fire? You dare not 
fire, you coward!" The two men faced each 
other, one with the weapon of death trem- 
bling in his nervous hand and the other armed 
only with courage and conscience. Awed by 
his resolute antagonist, Moore hesitated. In an- 
other moment the pistol was wrested from his 

51 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

grasp and Broderick was saved. His unflinch- 
ing firmness in this affair together mth the eclat of 
the office to which he had been just elevated, made 
him at once the most conspicous personage in the 
legislature and brought him directly to the knowl- 
edge of the miners. 

The circumstance that his assailant was South- 
ern while he was Northern added a graver tinge 
to the colors of feeling that the affray produced. 
It was the beginning of the feud that only ended 
with his death. Personal courage is the highest 
of all human attributes. As long as we love life 
and dread death, it shall be exalted above the 
clouds. Alexander killing the two Persian nobles 
at Granicus and Napoleon leading his grenadiers 
across the bridge at Lodi gained for themselves 
reputations excelled by the exploits of no others as 
generals or conquerors. 

Broderick 's career in the legislature as lieuten- 
ant governor seems to have been approved. Here 
is what one of the publications of that period said : 

''Something is due to this distinguished citizen 
for the dignity, ability and impartiality with 
which he has discharged the various arduous 
duties imposed upon the presiding officer of the 
Senate. He has thus far administered the duties 
of that officer in a manner gratifying to every 
member of the Senate. I do not know that a 
single member of the opposition has at any time 
52 



1849 

expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in which 
Mr. Broderick has performed his duties. This is 
a rare and exceedingly gratifying fact. A pre- 
siding officer, however just and able, seldom es- 
capes the animadversion of his political opponents. 

"Mr. Broderick is a good parliamentarian; he 
is familiar with parliamentary rules; his decisions 
are promptly given, and an appeal from one of 
them has never yet been taken by any Senator. 
The facility and despatch with which the busi- 
ness of the Senate is transacted is a subject of 
general remark and congratulation. 

"In this respect the Senate of California can 
vie with the Senates of any of the American 
States." 

He was at ease in political assemblages. While 
never a fluent nor ready speaker he made a study 
in this position of the ordinary rules and customs 
governing conventions, so that on subsequent oc- 
casions his tactical knowledge of technical rules 
was invaluable to his cause. At this same legisla- 
ture an effort was made to elect a successor to 
Fremont, whose term had expired. Fremont was 
a Southerner, but yet, in the short period during 
which he was senator he announced his positive 
abhorrence of slavery. That, of course, ranged 
against him many of his former friends and allies. 
One hundred and fortj^-two ballots were taken, and 
there being no election the legislature adjourned, 

53 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

leaving the senatorship vacant. A year passed 
away and at its next assembly the legislature 
elected John B. Weller, who also was a Southerner, 
as Fremont's successor. 

Again was Broderick's mettle tested, and again 
was his life in jeopardy. The occasion was so 
similar to the one of a year previous that it would 
be facile to conceive that they were more than a 
coincidence. Ex-Governor Smith, a man of distinc- 
tion, and ex-governor of one of the Southern states, 
vilipended Broderick at a Democratic convention, 
in a violent address. The latter was not then 
present but, true to his nature, he replied at the 
next session of the state Senate, virulently re- 
proaching the former official. Governor Smith 's son 
promptly challenged, and Broderick promptly ac- 
cepted. They met in Contra Costa County, being 
thus immune from arrest, and each opponent emp- 
tied his revolver at the other, standing twenty 
yards apart. Broderick, who does not seem to have 
been a good shot, missed altogether, but Smith 
with his sixth and last bullet struck the watch 
Broderick carried in the fob of his trousers. The 
latter 's skin was slightly abraded by the impact, 
but the watch possibly saved his life. 

Years later, after Broderick's death, this watch 
was found among his effects carefully safeguarded. 

A few weeks after the duel, Broderick, from 
his place in the Senate said: 
54 



1849 

*'I rise, Mr. President, to a question of privi- 
lege. On a former occasion I alluded from my 
place in the Senate to an honorable citizen by 
name, reflecting upon him in somewhat personal 
language. My remarks on that occasion were 
prompted by a feeling of vexation from remarks 
reported to have been made by that gentleman re- 
flecting upon mj^self in the Democratic Conven- 
tion. I have this day received from Governor 
Smith a letter which with the indulgence of the 
Senate I will read: 
'Hon. D. C. Broderick, 

'Sir: Having made remarks in the Democratic 
Convention, which yourself and others supposed 
reflected on you, and having just learned from a 
reliable source that you had no connection with 
the transaction then referred to, I now, deeming it 
my duty, take great pleasure in withdrawing any- 
thing then said of a disagreeable nature. 

(Signed) 'Yours, ,^^ Smith.' 

"Regretting as I do the occasion which led me 
into remarks unpleasant to Governor Smith, I now 
take pleasure in promptly withdrawing the same. ' ' 

I have quoted this letter and his observations 
textually, for I think that what they say is of more 
importance than what I say, and it illuminates the 
character of Broderick. In neither of these alter- 
cations was he the aggressor, and yet in neither does 
he seem entirely blameless. 

55 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

His replies are not alone vigorous, but harsh and 
violent. They show him to have been stern 
and implacable; he gave "a word for a word, a 
blow for a blow. " It is well that the ascerbities of 
political controversies are much more mellow now 
than sixty years ago. We have no duels nor do 
we essay to slay one another for a mere quip. But 
the words that today cause a smile, in those days 
caused a shot. Amid the stirring scenes of that 
epoch, no man dared blench, and if he was not 
killed he became popular, following Wolseley's 
aphorism to the young ensign. 

Another episode followed. Stephen J. Field — 
who subsequently became a justice of the United 
States Supreme Court — was a member of the As- 
sembly. He represented an interior district and 
had had an embittered controversy with the judge 
of the local court before whom he practiced. 

Field introduced a resolution looking to the im- 
peachment of his enemy and spoke thereon. He 
was answered by Moore, another member of the 
Assembly, who possessed an intimate friendship 
with Judge Turner, the object of Field's enmity. 
Every one carried weapons. The Assembly em- 
braced thirty-six members and over two-thirds 
never appeared without displaying knives or pis- 
tols or both. It was the habit for a legislator when 
he entered the sacred portals of the House to take 
off his pistols and lay them in his desk before re- 
56 



1849 

suming his seat. This was so natural as to attract 
neither surprise nor observation. But when Moore 
arose to address the Assembly, he deliberately 
opened his desk, took out two revolvers, cocked 
them, and, closing the lid, deposited the pistols on 
the top. He then vilipended Field atrociously, 
stigmatising him very offensively and declaring 
more than once he was responsible for his utter- 
ances both there and elsewhere. 

Field replied only to his arguments. His epi- 
thets required another kind of rhetoric. Hence 
when the body adjourned. Field applied succes- 
sively to two brother members desiring them to 
carry his cartel to Moore. Both declined, alleging 
the constitutional inhibition against duelling and 
its implication of both principals and seconds. 

The formidable reputation of ]\Ioore as a desper- 
ado, was recalled. Field was troubled and discon- 
solate. In the evening while meditating sombrely, 
he wandered into the Senate chamber where sat 
Broderick writing at his desk. Up to now they 
enjoyed but a desultory acquaintance with each 
other. Broderick looked up and exclaimed, ' ' Why, 
judge, you don't look well. What is the matter?" 
Field said, ' ' I don 't feel well either, for I have not 
a friend in the world." Broderick continued, 
"What is it worries you?" Thereupon Field told 
him. When Broderick had heard all, he at once 
said, "My dear Field, I will be your friend in this 

57 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

matter ; sit down and write a note at once to Moore 
and I will deliver it." Field wrote, demanding a 
public retraction or a duel. Broderick directly called 
on Moore. The latter after perusing the missive 
stated that he expected to be a candidate for Con- 
gress and thus he could not accept the challenge. 
But he added that he would meet Field in the 
street any time and place, and be ready. Broderick 
asserted that a street brawl and shooting were not 
quite correct between gentlemen, but if Moore, 
after what he had said in the Assembly, declined a 
formal duel, there was no other course but to as- 
sent to his suggestion, and he added that Field 
would be found on the street at a stipulated time 
the next morning. 

An hour later Moore met Broderick again and 
told him he would reply to Field's note in the 
morning and that the answer would be delivered by 
Mr. Baldwin, another assemblyman. 

Broderick took Field to the outskirts of the town 
in the early dawn, handed him a navy revolver and 
pointing at a knot on a tree thirty yards distant 
said, "shoot!" Field struck the knot three times 
in five shots, which is by no means bad target prac- 
tice. They returned and Broderick, meeting and 
accosting Baldwin, asked for Moore's reply. Bald- 
win said that his principal had made up his mind 
to do nothing farther in the matter. "Then," 
said Broderick, "as soon as the House meets. Judge 
58 



1849 

Field will arise in his seat and refer to the attack 
on him and to the language of Moore, wherein he 
stated that he held himself responsible for what he 
said ; that respect for the dignity of the House had 
prevented him from replying to the attack at the 
time in the terms deserved ; that he had since de- 
manded satisfaction of Moore for his language ; and 
that Moore had refused to respond, and will there- 
upon pronounce him a liar and a coward. ' ' 

"Then," said Baldwin, "Judge Field will get 
shot in his seat." 

"In that case," rejoined Broderick, "there will 
be others shot, too. ' ' He hastened to Field, related 
the conversation and asked if the latter would do 
as he told Baldwin. Field, who through the entire 
affair conducted himself most chivalrously, quickly 
assented. 

The House met a few minutes later. Broderick 
sat near Field and around them were a number of 
Broderick 's friends, fully armed and prepared. 

Both Moore and Field simultaneously arose but 
the speaker recognized Moore, who at once read a 
full, ample and satisfactory apology, and that was 
the end. Did Field recall this memory when, 
nearly forty years thereafter, he beheld the slayer 
of Broderick fall dead at his feet! Tacitus ob- 
serves, "men's minds revert from present to past, 
with infinite apprehension." It must be confessed 

59 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

that deeds like Broderiek's detailed in this incident 
forge chains whose links outlast life. 

Field escaped a dangerous situation with both 
life and honor, and he never forgot either the 
occasion nor the man. 

These occurrences made Broderick a natural and 
conscious leader in state politics and, although he 
tranquilly returned to his lucrative pursuit, he was 
never consigned to oblivion. His term as state 
senator expired; but when next he wore the toga, 
it was in the chamber of the United States Senate. 



60 



CHAPTER IV 

PROGRESS 

Meanwhile the years immediately following 1849 
passed. The state gradually augmented its popu- 
lation to a quarter of a million for whom San Fran- 
cisco was as Rome. San Jose, Stockton, Sacra- 
mento, and other interior towns came to their own 
slowly. When miners left the gold district they 
went directly to the city, for in the city they met 
friends and witnessed amusements. Every citizen 
was struggling to improve, but it was no slight 
task to construct all the muniments of a modern 
town, such as sanitary, fire, and water necessities, 
streets and sidewalks, from simple mud and sand, 
with no system of local taxation and no insurance. 

It was not until 1852 that fire insurance com- 
panies established agencies. All the larger cities 
without exception suffered from the devastation of 
fire. San Francisco, especially, was burned and 
partially destroyed time after time. 

The scanty water supply, contained in a few arti- 
ficial reservoirs sunk at street corners, would be ex- 
hausted in an hour. During the summer, with the 
town fanned by the strong trade winds, any con- 
flagration was inevitably destructive to the tents 

61 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

and board shelters. Ships, deserted by their crews 
and anchored in the mud, which gradually mount- 
ed as the streets were built into the waters, had 
been transformed into stationary hotels; one even 
served as a prison. A number of these ships were 
destroyed, the fires burning sails, shrouds, masts and 
bulwarks down to the level of the soil in which they 
lay embedded. The keels made a good foundation 
for a superstructure of shops and lodging houses, 
which were rapidly occupied. Years later, in re- 
moving the upper works to build on the now valu- 
able locations, keels of once splendid clippers that 
queened the waves, have been uncovered from the 
deep soil into which they had sunk. In one of 
them were found some baskets of champagne, the 
wine proving delicious to the gourmet, even after 
thirty-six years' submersion. Good wine may not 
need a bush but it does require a cover. 

The fire engines of this period were manned by 
volunteers. Broderick, faithful to his New York 
instincts, had organized a company of which he was 
foreman and the nominal distinction remained with 
the name, though, of course, he relinquished his 
active association when higher aims intervened. 

Natheless, the state flourished. ]\Iillions and 
millions of gold were annually extracted and the 
mining area continually enlarged. In the north 
half of the state, embracing Shasta and Yreka — 
regions that possessed only a name in the mission- 
62 




^■j y//^s^w '\ 



Mi - 






PROGRESS 

ary days — auriterous soils were located. The miners 
flocked to the new placers, for whatever we may 
have, we are not content, and the unlaaown always 
fascinates. But it was a free, happy, merry life 
for those young men, clad in their red and blue 
shirts, corduroy trousers and top boots, hither and 
thither, sleeping beneath the stars and hoping to 
find a fortune under every stone — in every sylvan 
glen or in every rivulet that laced the Sierra Ne- 
vadas. They were forever searching for the un- 
seen treasure that lay somewhere beneath the soar- 
ing summits; somewhere within those sunless re- 
cesses, walled by crags that leap to the clouds. 

After the day's toil came the campfires, near the 
running waters and under the martial pines. The 
wild and jocund halloas filled the cafion and were 
lost surmounting the trees. The beauty of these 
wild woods where one communes with unviolated 
nature, refreshes the brain, fills the lungs, and 
lightens the spirit. The dreamless repose; the 
carol of the exulting birds; and the awakening 
slumber shaking from its wings the refreshing dew 
— such was the beatific existence in those halcyon 
days, with the delvers searching for the stone of 
Fortunatus. 

The successful adventurers came to the urban 
places during the winter; the others built cabins 
and mined, the rains softening the soil and render- 
ing it much easier to treat. 

63 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Presently the splendid resources of the country 
for agriculture were manifested and people began 
to cultivate the land. Most of the flour was im- 
ported from South America and cargoes and car- 
goes of cereals, coming from New York and foreign 
lands, were wafted to California shores. 

During the year 1852, five hundred and sixty- 
eight vessels arrived from abroad in the port of 
San Francisco, including five hundred and twenty- 
four American ships. Fancy that proportion to- 
day! Only one in ten foreign-made or foreign- 
manned ! 

Gradually the farmer raised many articles of 
food cheaper and more appetizing than the im- 
ported kinds, and the old days of speculators buy- 
ing all of a certain commodity in the market and 
then doubling the price passed away. Many found 
it more profitable and, at least, less uncertain than 
mining, and continued to prosper until gold be- 
came second in value to other products of the soil. 
But with this Arcadian similitude, living was cheap 
both at the mines and in the towns of the seaboard. 

Every miner slung his six shooter at his waist 
on going out of his abode. In San Francisco in 
1851 no one was safe from assaults, even on the 
streets or in his home. Hence every one carried 
deadly weapons — the revolver or the bowie knife. 

The number of duels and personal encounters 
was prodigious. From the day they disembarked 
64 



PROGRESS 

the new arrivals found excitement. A month was 
a year; a week a month. Each day had its own 
history both for the town and for individuals. The 
pleasures were restless not tranquil and no one had 
leisure to be courteous. Perhaps one man calls an- 
other a liar and, instantly — revolvers, shooting, 
silence ! The silenced may be an innocent bystand- 
er rather than the half -drunken reveler. The South 
Americans and Mexicans favored the bowie knife. 
It was discreet, and, handled with adroitness and 
dexterity, might be quicker than the pistol. Brawls 
occurred nightly. No one was arrested; no one 
warned, except, perhaps, by his enemy. The prison 
was a ship, and the police too few and inefficient. 
But the avenging Vigilance Committee eventually 
applied to these evils drastic and efficacious reme- 
dies. 

The commerce of the city enlarged with increas- 
ing values during the passing years. In new forma- 
tions one often finds some simple but necessary 
ingredient lacking, the least valuable and yet most 
wanting. After one of the usual normal conflagra- 
tions small tacks were in demand to nail cloth and 
muslin on wooden partitions. The supply was ex- 
hausted and they sold as gold, weight for weight 
— tacks on one side of the scales and gold on the 
other until nicely balanced. They were like Cru- 
soe's axe, which was more valuable to him than all 
his Spanish doubloons. 

65 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Meanwhile, in the city, better hotels and theatres 
— buildings of brick and stone — were erected. 
Streets were excavated from the sand, mud and 
bogs, paved and sewered. The invisible lots under 
the water-front were sold on various occasions at 
auction and the purchasers piled, capped, and 
built thereon, thereby adding a new quarter. It 
was by purchasing at these public sales that Brod- 
erick became wealthy. His avocation of rivaling 
the alchemists had many competitors, including, at 
length, the Federal government which established 
an assay office in San Francisco. 

Foreseeing this result he invested his capital and 
all he could borrow in water lots. He was a bold 
man, who was forever daring Chance. 

Though he never "gambled," yet he speculated 
with his life and future, unlocked and open. These 
properties increased in value many fold and there- 
after he experienced no real want of money for his 
political campaigns. 

Not for a day, not for a moment had he for- 
gotten his matured resolve to become senator from 
California. Like the coral insects he labored and 
built without cessation. Entirely dedicated to am- 
bition, he did not relax, but placed stone after 
stone on the temple of his life. 

He was omniscient in all public matters. Was 
it a committee to send succor to distressed immi- 
grants — Broderick was chairman. Was it a ques- 
66 



PROGRESS 

tion of a new municipal building for the city — 
there he was in the familiar plaza, relic of Mexican 
days, where all gatherings were held, positive, 
brusque, intolerant, triumphant. He was a most 
energetic citizen and nothing could daunt his reso- 
lution. 

Everybody respected him and some liked him. 
He became more dignified, austere and reserved. 
The man seemed to grow with the glow of his in- 
tense mentality. 

It was no longer ''How are you, Dave?" But 
"How are you, Mr. Broderick?" The press al- 
ways wrote of him as the ''Hon. D. C. Broderick." 
Even the roystering firemen, boyhood companions 
of New York days, who had followed him towards 
the setting sun, became quiet and considerate in his 
presence. To preserve and deserve this transition 
he became studious. 

He had attended school but very little while a 
boy. His father died when he was fourteen and 
there were his mother and brother. Books were 
almost a puzzle to him. His brain was concrete, 
not abstract; practical, not didactic. His place 
was in the open, not in the study, or office. So he 
set himself now to make the new cogs that he felt 
essential to the wheel of his future. He read and 
studied night after night in his quiet room, like 
a school boy preparing for college. It is said 
that he engaged an apartment distant from his 

67 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

usual domicile, where he spent long hours in ab- 
sorbing knowledge, the knowledge that books im- 
part. Certainly there was nothing in his conversa- 
tion thereafter that betrayed a lack of cultivation. 

He dressed carefully in the ordinary apparel 
of the merchant or statesman ; black frock coat, vest 
and tie, with white shirt. Rather an innovation if 
not an improvement on the red shirt, high boots, 
corduroy trousers and belted six-shooter of '49. 
Broderick seldom carried a weapon, by day or 
night, even when his life was threatened, which 
was more the observance than the breach. Only 
cowards go armed. He was strong, active, broad 
shouldered, a good boxer, and could easily take 
care of himself with most men. 

In San Francisco he became the dictator of the 
municipality. His political lessons and observa- 
tions in New York were priceless. He intro- 
duced a modification of the same organization in 
San Francisco with which Tammany has controlled 
New York for lo ! these many years. 

It was briefly this. At a forthcoming election 
a number of offices were to be filled ; those of sher- 
iff, district attorney, alderman, and places in the 
legislature. Several of these positions were very 
lucrative, notably that of the sheriff, tax-collector 
and assessor. The incumbents received no speci- 
fied salaries, but were entitled to all or a certain 
proportion of the fees. These fees occasionally 
68 



PROGRESS 

exceeded $50,000 per annum. Broderiek would 
say to the most popular or the most desirable as- 
pirant: "This office is worth $50,000 a year. 
Keep half and give me the other half, which I 
require to keep up our organization in the city and 
state. Without intelligent, systematic discipline 
neither you nor I can win, and our opponents will 
conquer, unless I have money enough to pay the 
men whom I may find necessary. If you agree 
to that arrangement I will have you nominated 
when the convention assembles and then we will 
all pull together until after the election." Pos- 
sibly this candidate dissented, but then someone 
else consented, and as the town was hugely Demo- 
cratic his selections were usually victorious. It 
may be asked, who gave him power and authority? 
By what right dared he assume this prerogative? 
What monarch constituted him viceroy and or- 
dained that he should dictate to the citizens of 
San Francisco, the men who should rule the city, 
manage its finances, direct its police, choose its 
judges and control its schools? Broderiek might 
have responded in the words of Napoleon when 
he said that "he found the crown of France in 
the gutter, picked it up and put it on his head." 
When he came there was chaos and he created 
order. There was no party system in the town 
and he constructed one. It was the beginning and 
he was perforce the architect. He was also ship- 

69 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Wright and captain. Yet he never interfered in 
local affairs nor imdertook to influence the city 
officials on purel}' civic questions. It was said 
of him, from the first that he was a citizen of Cali- 
fornia, and not of any section. For the same 
methods that were so brilliantly successful — be- 
cause methodically directed in the city — he intro- 
duced into the more populous counties. He was 
as supreme in Sacramento as in San Francisco 
and in every region of importance he maintained 
men whose care it was to proselytise Broderick 
adherents, and above all to select legislative can- 
didates who would be favorable to his well known 
and openly avowed candidacy for the senate. These 
men were paid by Broderick a regular stipend, 
like employees in a merchandise establishment, 
when he could find for them no permanent appoint- 
ment. 

However, from 1854 he was the recipient from 
Governor Bigler of considerable patronage. Brod- 
erick, it was said, elected the governor, and the 
latter liquidated the indebtedness by accepting 
many of the former's recommendations to state 
positions. 

This enabled him to provide for a number of 
retainers. In the city likewise he would stipulate 
with his party associates or rather subordinates for 
a certain proportion of their office employees. Thus 
from these double sources he supplied sustenance 
70 



PROGRESS 

for a number of capable politicians who became 
his devoted friends and partisans. 

Surely he needed friends to counterpoise the 
bitter enemies who daily augmented. During this 
period of his career he displayed but little tact or 
discretion. He was intolerant, irritating and dog- 
matic. If one was not with him, why then one 
was against him. But later, when he found the 
steps he strove to ascend so steep and slippery, 
he sought for helping hands wherever proffered and 
asked and accepted assistance gratefully from 
whatever source. Broderick has never been ac- 
cused of personal jobbery. His legislative repu- 
tation was unblemished. He might be quarrelsome, 
vindictive and harbor doubtful associates, but he 
never descended to vulgar venality. The tribute 
he collected from his official satellites was dis- 
bursed in promoting the welfare of the party. It 
was well understood that his personal contribution 
and expenses largely exceeded his tithes. 

If there was a hall to be engaged, bands of music 
to be provided, platforms to be erected, banners 
to be bought, election quarters to be taken, it was to 
him that they went and he judged, selected, de- 
cided, and paid. He was omniscient and inde- 
fatigable. As one of the opposing periodicals 
said: "Broderick from '52 to '54 was the Demo- 
cratic party. Since the organization of the party 
in California he has been its most active and effi- 

71 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

eient member. His strong and decided character 
is known to every one. Vehement in his nature, 
unbending in his will, he has the intuitive political 
sagacity which fits him for the people." 

He required very little personally. He neither 
drank, smoked nor gambled, nor was his name ever 
associated with lewd women. Society w^as in em- 
bryo. He had no vices save one, ambition — if it be 
a vice — to seek to govern and that, like the rod of 
Aaron, consumed all others. 

The result of the election in 1853 was disappoint- 
ing. His friend Bigler was elected governor, but 
the legislature was of a doubtful complexion. 

That body assembled in Benicia in January, 1854. 
The term of Gwin, one of the senators, expired 
in March, 1855, and that of Weller, his colleague, 
in March, 1857, two years later. The legislature 
met in January of each year and it was the un- 
violated custom to elect the senator during the 
session immediately preceding the expiration of 
the incumbent's term. This was indeed the pur- 
port of the Constitution of the United States. 

Gwin's six years expired in March, 1855, so to 
the legislature assembling in January, 1855, for 
they were annually chosen, would properly fall the 
function of selecting his successor. But Broderick 
from the depths of his restless and fertile brain 
evolved a bold, novel, and ingenious project. 

The legislature of 1855 would have to be elected. 
72 



PROGRESS 

He did not know how the future would affect his 
aspirations. One can not see a day ahead; how, 
then, can one prophesy what fate may bring in the 
course of a year? He carefully canvassed the 
members of the '54 body, then in session, and de- 
cided that his chance for election to the Senate 
by them was at least equal to that of any other 
man. 

The first movement was to persuade this legis- 
lature to elect the senator themselves and for that 
purpose a measure would have to be passed author- 
izing such action. So he launched his revolutionary 
project, and his partisans to a man sustained the 
proposition. This is not strange as we commence 
to appreciate his positive force, though it must have 
caused odd misgivings to some of his followers. 
But not one faltered. They closed ranks and 
moved on the common enemy. For every one who 
was not a Broderickite came together after the first 
spasm of astonishment and indignation. It was 
not then a question of party. It was Broderick 
and anti-Broderick. 

Even the Whigs, who mustered a small num- 
ber of votes, took sides and were by no means 
unanimous. Of course, Gwin and Weller, both of 
whom wished to retain their exalted and dis- 
tinguished stations, united. They were absent in 
Washington, but they possessed adroit and capable 
friends at Benicia. And there were several other 
73 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

gentlemen who had hopes and aspirations. Broder- 
ick was not the only statesman who strove to mount 
the capitol steps. All these combined, formed a 
phalanx, which, composed as it was of various and 
incongruous elements, yet valiantly breasted the 
Broderick array. In the Assembly the measure 
directing the legislature to elect a United States 
senator at the session passed, which was a victory 
for Broderick. It was different in the Senate. 

In that smaller body the aligned forces were 
more equally matched. The Broderick senators 
were immovable; like Spartans they never 
changed. Nothing could alter their devotion, and 
to a man they never missed a session during a long 
two months while this bill was on the table. Not 
one was absent, and they were ever at the behest 
and command of the cliief for any deed or pur- 
pose looking to success. 

But with the opposition it was not so unani- 
mous. They had several chiefs instead of one, 
and many intrigues of which the Broderick men 
tried to make capital. 

It is related that one of the opposition senators 
was invited to ride behind two fine horses driven 
by a warm friend who was, however, a Broderick 
partisan. On a level, pleasant road his friend 
carelessly drove into a ditch and both were slightly 
injured. After his return our prudent senator 
reflected and the more he reflected the more pe- 
74 



PROGRESS 

ciiliar he thought the accident. There was to be 
no "pairing" nor explanations; if a man was not 
in his seat his vote was not counted, so a very- 
slight mishap, one that might keep a member to his 
chamber for only a day, could be disastrous. 

After cogitating, he arose like David and went 
forth to his friends who locked him in a room, 
where he was carefully guarded from intrusion or 
molestation until the hour of voting. The result 
was a tie, and the lieutenant governor cast his vote 
affirmatively, thus giving the measure a majority of 
one. A reconsideration was moved and, according 
to parliamentary usage, the vote would have to be 
confirmed at the next session. 

The Santa Clara senator was named Grewell. 
He had been a clergyman nor did he deny the asser- 
tion. That he was vacillating and impressionable 
became, to state moderately in the following re- 
cital, quite clear. He was a Whig and from char- 
acter and associations would be naturally anti- 
Broderick. He was, therefore, ranked with the 
allies and had hitherto supported them. 

But the Broderick people were vigilant and 
sleepless. Every senator opposed was taken to the 
summit of the Mount and there proffered the earth 
and all contained therein, as a recruit for the 
standard. One of the most fervent of the Broder- 
ick contingent, the leading banker of San Francisco, 
had several private interviews with Grewell. No 

75 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

matter how carefully concealed, very little was done 
on one side that was not known to the other. The 
allies reflected. 

Like the boatman in Dumas' novel, who had 
conversed with "milady" and therefore was no 
longer safe, Grewell had met the banker and there- 
fore required surveillance. He lived in San Jose, 
fifty miles away. A mounted rider was sent on 
relays of speedy steeds to that place. He arrived 
at midnight in a pitiless storm, delaying en route 
only to remount. He brought a letter to the self- 
appointed anti-Broderick guardian of Grewell. 
The latter was awakened, placed in a carriage and 
driven towards Sacramento. Half way, he met 
another agent who received the consignment from 
the San Jose cerberus and conveyed it safely to the 
headquarters of the allies. But the suasive elo- 
quence of the banker was yet potent, for Grewell, 
when momentarily unobserved, escaped from his 
captors and rushed to the realms of the enemy, 
by whom he was comforted, cherished, and con- 
fined. 

These events had occupied several days and they 
included the unavailing pursuit of the allied 
Grewell cavalcade by Broderick forces, who ascer- 
tained too late the cause of his sudden and mys- 
terious disappearance from San Jose. 

Grewell was kept like a precious jewel all that 
Sunday in the Broderick refuse for the repentant, 
76 



PROGRESS 

and on Monday when the session opened he ap- 
peared in his seat and voted affirmatively, thus 
causing a tie. But, as Paul Jones said, the fight 
was only begun. Both sides possessed champions 
of resource, artifice, and enterprise, and the allies 
well knew that if they could re-capture Grewell 
his uncertain temperament might again be oscil- 
lated. They sent out scouts who, after quiet but 
skillful researches over the length and breadth of 
the town, located the apartment wherein he v/as 
harbored and guarded by a faithful henchman of 
Broderick. But the faithful one was known to 
be quite susceptible to agreeable beverages. He 
was liberally and quite unsuspectingly supplied 
by a common friend, who nevertheless represented 
the allies. 

There seems to have been rapid conversions in 
those delectable days. At the midnight hour, in 
stocking feet and pistol in hand, the latest friend 
stealthily opened the door of the chamber where 
Grewell and his guileless guardian slept. The 
latter still slumbered heavily, but Grewell was 
quietly awakened, told to arise and go forth. He 
did as bidden, and after a tender and interesting 
conference with the Whig leader, he entered the 
Senate at the next session and coolly reversed his 
vote of the previous day, ascribing his altered atti- 
tude to ' ' telegraphic despatches ' ' from his constitu- 
ents. 

77 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Of such was the nature of California legisla- 
tures even five lustrums ago. The changing of 
Grewell's vote caused the failure of the measure 
and annihilated the darling ambition of Broderick 
for the time. But, though beaten, he had defied 
and fought all of whatever rank or party were al- 
lied against him, and was defeated only then by the 
relapse of a traitor. I think it was Dean Rich- 
mond who drank a toast to "the damned rascal 
who wiU stay bought. " I do not mean to state that 
Grewell had been corrupted, but a man who so 
shamelessly and brazenly reversed his action over 
night subjects his conduct to the worst inferences. 

Among those who stood forward as champions 
of Broderick were two men who afterward be- 
came celebrated in other places. One was Stephen 
J. Field, who died a Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court. The second was William Walker 
who, a year or two afterward, endeavored to sub- 
jugate Central American States, emulating Morgan, 
but with different success, for the one was ennobled 
and the other shot. California was then the home 
of the world's choice spirits. The courage and 
hardihood which transported them in safety from 
remote distances to this unknown land still wrought 
like an Homeric legend and built from nothing 
this unique factor of the American structure. 

I cannot discover in this initial combat for the 
throne a division of forces on sectional or racial 
78 



PROGRESS 

lines. It was simply Broderick and anti-Broderick. 
The Northern and Southern alignment did not ap- 
pear so strongly until some years later when 
Broderick was a senator and discussed the national 
issues that led to the Civil War. 

Broderick 's supporters comprised a number of 
the most ardent Southerners, and among his most 
envenomed opponents were several New Yorkers 
from his own state. The conflict was waged then 
and for three years more, until his ultimate suc- 
cess revolved around his individual personality. 
It must be remembered that he was not the only 
person that wished to be senator, and all these of 
course opposed his aspirations. It was one against 
all and all against one. He openly avowed his 
candidacy and frankly said that those who would 
not assist he would regard as enemies. Therefore 
it can easily be understood that what supporters 
he had would follow him forever. After this 
struggle there would be no traitors and there were 
none. Once a Broderick man, always a Broderick 
man — against the world. Yet his imperiousness, 
annoyed and irritated adherents, and his lack of 
mental equipoise lost associates. He was reproached 
for not taking counsel with his friends. He said : 
"I do, but I do not let them control. A leader 
must lead even if he commits errors. Men will 
follow the man who decides and acts while others 
are temporizing. My goal is the Senate and I will 

79 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

arrive, if living. Why," he added, "to sit in the 
Senate of the United States as a senator for one 
day, I would consent to be roasted in a slow fire 
on the plaza." Such fierce resolve wins, as most 
men win who set their lives to the accomplishment 
of a certain design. It is energy, persistence, and 
consistency. 



80 



CHAPTER V 

CONFLICT 

The state legislature of 1854 ended its days 
in March of the same year. The state Democratic 
convention assembled in July, 1854, at Sacramento 
to nominate candidates for various offices, the elec- 
tion to be held in the autumn. The Broderick feud 
had become, by now, the web and warp and woof of 
the land. It entered into the arcanum of every 
county, every town, every miners' camp. From 
the base of Mount Shasta, whose summit, lifted 
high, eternally guarded its white cerement, to the 
sea-bound cypresses of Monterey, California, was 
divided. Several counties held Broderick and anti- 
Broderick local meetings and elected contesting 
delegations to the state convention. The ruling law 
did not permit delegations from districts which 
were divided to participate in the first deliberations 
of the convocation. Only those whose seats were 
not disputed possessed that privilege. Even San 
Francisco, where Broderick had hitherto reigned 
with a level hand, sent an opposing delegation, 
whose claims must be decided by the convention 
and pending which the members of neither could 
vote. However Broderick himself as chairman of 

81 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the state committee would preside at the first ses- 
sion and entertain preliminary motions. 

Large halls were scarce and a church was chosen. 
The Broderick men were allowed ingress by a 
small side door prior to the appointed moment, 
so that they might occupy the best seats in front. 
The strategem availed little, however, for the op- 
posing forces as soon as the broad doors leading 
into the sacred edifice were thrown apart, rushed 
in and passing rapidly down the chancel, forced 
their way bodily to the foot of the pulpit where 
stood Broderick. After the tumult had partially 
ceased he addressed the body, declaring the con- 
vention open and inviting proposals for temporary 
presiding officer. Two men arose, simultaneously, 
one of them suggesting a partisan and the other an 
opponent of Broderick for the position. Broderick 
recognized his adherent, put his motion, and de- 
clared Judge Edward McGowan chosen chair- 
man. But the others were clamoring for recogni- 
tion, which he declined, declaring his duty fulfilled. 
Thereupon, one of his enemies, from the chancel 
of the church, offered a resolution, and after a 
pandemonium of affirmatives, announced that Gov- 
ernor McDougall had been also duly elected chair- 
man. 

Thirty resolute men, armed with knives, der- 
ringers and revolvers, surrounded and escorted 
McDougall to the platform near the pulpit and 
82 



CONFLICT 

seated him in a chair, whilst McGowan confronted 
him from another. Distinguished among the fore- 
most of the thirty by his tall, slender, straight- 
backed figure and steady poise stood David S. 
Terry, whose name later mingled in death with 
that of Broderick. 

Pistols were uncovered, bowie-knives glittered; 
every man in the church was alert and intense. 
Only a miracle prevented a massacre. In that con- 
fined area each bullet would find a victim. A revol- 
ver in the hands of a nervous delegate was acci- 
dentally discharged and both factions only hesitated 
to learn who had shot, whilst a few prudent war- 
riors instantly vaulted through stained-glass win- 
dows, bearing with them the image of God. Brod- 
erick himself displayed in this fearful hour rare 
tact, courage and moderation. A person noted more 
for his skill as a scribe than as a marksman and 
who many years after constituted himself Brod- 
erick 's by-no-means profound or impartial biogra- 
pher, excitedly drew a revolver and with trem- 
bling hand brandished it before Broderick 's face. 
"Take care," said the latter, "take care; that might 
go off and you may hurt someone, ' ' and very delib- 
erately (he seems never to hurry) he leaned for- 
ward, wrested the weapon from the palsied grasp 
and carefully laid it on the table. 

Nevertheless, the angry, tenacious, tumultuous 
throng remained in sullen conclave for five hours 

83 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

disdaining fruitless efforts to harmonize. Neither 
wing would tolerate speeches by their opponents. 

Governor Bigler, a Broderick adherent, was 
hooted and forced from the pulpit platform, while 
the leading men of the allies were served no better. 
The two chairmen sat side by side quite helpless 
in the uproar and darkness, which now came on, for 
the pastor after vainly imploring them to vacate and 
not stain the house of God with hot, sinful blood, re- 
fused lamps and they were perforce content with 
two dip candles placed on the top of the pulpit. For 
one side to adjourn first was to confess defeat 
and grant, to the other, perhaps, nominal claims of 
legality. Finally, a compromise was effected and 
the two chairmen with locked arms descended 
from the platform, proceeded down the aisle and 
out into the world, followed by the whole conven- 
tion in the same equitable manner. 

The following day the Broderick battalion and 
their opponents met separately. Several fruitless 
and half-hearted attempts at compromise were of- 
fered but little disposition to unite was evinced. 
Lilve Orlando they were content to be better stran- 
gers. In this mood each body selected different 
candidates for the ensuing election and dissolved. 
The Whigs, chastened by defeat and encouraged by 
the venomous division in the ranks of their heredi- 
tary enemies, put forth an admirable ticket. This 
party though always in the minority in California 
84 



CONFLICT 

embraced a number of the most reputable and con- 
servative citizens, many of whom, as members of 
the Republican party rose later to high distinction 
in the counsels of the state and nation. But the 
Democrats, fortified by the federal power, patron- 
age and forty years of national administration yet 
divided, like Corsicans as they were, still conquered. 
The anti-Broderick candidates alone received a 
larger vote than the Whigs. The Broderick line 
was badly defeated, but with his usual careful and 
intelligent combinations Broderick, to whom the 
legislature was all, the rest nothing, had made such 
conditions and exchanges for county offices with 
both Whigs and any or all other adversaries, that 
his contingent in the legislature was more numerous 
than the average vote warranted. 

During election day he was at the polls in one of 
the San Francisco districts. Disputes were fre- 
quent and the feud vigorous and vindictive be- 
tween the contending Democrats. Colonel Balie 
Peyton confronted Broderick and a violent alterca- 
tion ensued over the ballots. Peyton thrust his 
hand in his hip pocket and the handle of a pistol 
appeared. But Broderick, who had his right hand 
in his trousers' pocket, exclaimed coldly and delib- 
erately: "Move, Colonel Peyton, and you are a 
dead man. ' ' Peyton then knew that Broderick had 
his hand on a derringer which carried an ounce 
bullet, and which was small enough to be fired from 
85 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

his pocket without drawing — a most deadly weapon 
in a street brawl. Peyton stood motionless until 
Broderick said: "There is no need for us to kill 
each other or to have a personal difficulty. Let us 
take a boat on the bay or a walk under the trees 
and talk over this matter. If we cannot agree then 
I am ready to fight to the death or to any extent 
that you may elect." Peji;on consented and a few 
minutes' conversation apart made them both life- 
long friends. 

A friend complained to Broderick of turbulent 
characters who assisted him in elections, but Brod- 
erick replied: "You respectable people I cannot 
depend on. You won't go down and face the re- 
volvers of those fellows and I have to take such 
material as I can get hold of. They stuff ballot- 
boxes and steal the tally lists and I have to keep 
these men to aid me." 

On another occasion Broderick was walking one 
dark, rainy evening in a street when a person com- 
ing up behind and mistaking him for a friend, 
gave him a gentle push. The street was slippery, 
and the gentle push landed Broderick in no very 
gentle manner in the mud. He turned angrily and 
saw one of his most inveterate antagonists. "Oh !" 
said this startled personage, "I-I-thought it was 
Benham." "I wish to heaven it M-as," grunted 
Broderick. The humor of it appealed to both. They 
laughed, shook hands and ever after entertained 
86 



CONFLICT 

personal if not political amity. This little anec- 
dote is trifling, but it serves to illustrate the milder 
degree of his character. As Plutarch says, ''One's 
lighter and unstudied actions hold a clearer mir- 
ror to the world." 

When the Solons met in January, 1855, it was 
very soon ascertained that no one person could 
command a majority of the legislature for United 
States senator. The strongest was Senator 
Gwin, whose term matured in the following March ; 
but his forces were not so numerous as Broderick's 
at the previous session when the latter lost by a 
single vote. 

While Broderick and Gwin were the principal 
contestants there were other men who would will- 
ingly wear the toga, and each possessed a certain 
number of adherents in the legislature. 

These gentlemen at the previous session were 
all united with Gwin against Broderick. Now with 
the utmost sincerity and cynical frankness they 
united with Broderick against Gwin. There is 
nothing better than modern Republican politics to 
illustrate the independence, as well as the selfish- 
ness, of our school. After all, happiness consists 
in pleasing one's self; in pleasing one's self one 
may displease others; therefore, happiness is sel- 
fishness. And so if the recalcitrants were vili- 
pended by the Gwin advocates, were they not justi- 
fied? Winston Churchill relates in the life of his 

87 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

father that Lord Randolph, after assisting the 
Irish party, in the exigencies of time found his 
friends were on the other side. So he said to Par- 
nell : " I 've done, as you know, all I could for you. 
Now, of course, I'll do all I can against you." 

This legislative coalition, guided by the clear 
brain of Broderick, easily foiled all the efforts of 
the rest of the Democrats to enter a caucus, in 
which the decision of the majority would be bind- 
ing. The Wliigs, who were less numerous than the 
combined Democrats, were quite ready to do noth- 
ing towards the election, as the choice could not fall 
upon a Wliig, and so the session vacuously ended. 
Gwin's seat in the Senate remained untenanted, and 
California possessed only Weller to give it voice in 
that august body. During this session of the Cali- 
fornia legislature and the one preceding, Gwin was 
absent in Washington. Congress sat coincidently 
with the California body, and it was not then con- 
sidered American or patriotic for a senator to desert 
Congress while in session, to go home and re-elect 
himself. Distant as Washington was from Sacra- 
mento, Gwin's personal management of his cam- 
paign was made still more difficult. Neither tele- 
graphs nor railways existed in the far West, and 
the shortest time by way of steamer to Panama, 
thence by rail sixty miles to Aspinwall, and thence 
by steamer to New York, was thirty days. 

I do not find, in a close study of this period, 
88 



CONFLICT 

that any special antagonism existed between Gwin 
and Broderick. The latter was a candidate for 
the senatorship, resolute and immovable, confront- 
ing the world in his determination to win. All 
who did not aid his upward course were enemies, 
though he was too clever a statesman to refuse or 
decline tangible assistance from any source. He 
was always ready for a bargain, and in the political 
trades of the day he was seldom worsted. He was 
by far more successful with individuals than with 
the public at large. His positive, unyielding per- 
sonality impressed his associates, but this brusque- 
ness did not augment his popularity with the 
people. 

Gwin had been a federal official in Mississippi 
and came, like others, seeking his fortune. 

He arrived the same month as Broderick and 
with the same purpose; to return as United States 
senator from California. And, as a singular coin- 
cidence, before leaving Washington, he bade fare- 
well to Stephen A. Douglas, saying: "I leave for 
California tomorrow. It will become a state, and 
I shall be back in a year bearing my credentials as 
United States senator." And he was. Broderick 
said to Sickles what Gwin repeated to Douglas a 
month later. The one from the North; the other 
from the South. Both fulfilled their prophecies 
and the career of each was equally weird and 
romantic. 

89 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Of stately presence, over six feet, with agree- 
able mien, Gwin possessed the courtly manners of 
a Southern gentleman. Those things counted for 
more at that time than today. Education, family, 
personal associations and surroundings had more 
weight and consideration. Possibly now it is more 
the man himself; not his ancestors nor friends nor 
religion, but himself. Sons of senators become em- 
ployees in department stores, and railway conduc- 
tors, sons of artisans and tradesmen become 
senators. 

Gwin was chosen a San Francisco representa- 
tive to the body that framed the constitution of 
the state at Monterey in October, 1849, and the 
ensuing legislature selected him and Fremont as the 
two senators. He seems to have been easily first 
and obtained the coveted distinction without envy 
or rivalry. By allotment his term expired in 
March, 1855, and the adjournment of the legis- 
lature without choosing his successor, left him office- 
less. During these several years, however, he had, 
with great diligence and industry, filled the more 
important federal offices in the state with his per- 
sonal adherents from the South. 

His colleague Weller, chosen to succeed Fremont 
in 1851, had not an equal influence or ascendency 
in Washington. He was a Northern man and the 
Southern element controlled the government. 
Gwin's personal acquaintance with the brilliant 
90 



CONFLICT 

galaxy of Southern swiators ruling in Washington 
added to his power and prestige. But he did not 
exercise political prudence nor wise statesmanship. 
His appointees, to a man, were from one section. 
Postmasters, port collectors, naval officers, apprais- 
ers, federal attorneys and treasurers, mint em- 
jdoyees, revenue officials, lighthouse keepers and 
inspectors were all from the happy Southland. The 
San Francisco Customs was called the "Virginia 
Poor-IIouse." If he had been as great a senator 
as office philanthrophist his renown would be endur- 
ing. Senator Jones of Nevada used to say that 
"for one friend you make in appointments you 
create five enemies." So given enough appoint- 
ments and one's enemies will surely overwhelm one. 

The ideals and struggles that culminated in the 
Civil War were only latent in California in 1855, 
but still the complete predominance of the South- 
ern element in office w^as irksome and irritating to 
many of the Northerners, and to none so much as 
to Broderick, the leading aggressive, enterprising 
Northerner. 

Gwin had also fought his duel in recognition of 
sanctified precepts. It was in 1853, with an ex- 
member of Congress, McCorkle. The duellists 
fought, armed with rifles. They stood back to back 
forty yards from each other and, at the command 
of one of the seconds, wheeled and fired. After 
three exchanges, in which neither one was hit, 

91 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the combat ended. McCorkle was little and 
Gwin big, a fact that caused General Harry 
"Worthington to exclaim, several years afterwards, 
when requested by his mentor, Broderick, to vote, 
as a member of the legislature, for IMcCorkle for 
some position: "I'll do nothing of the kind. A 
man who couldn't hit old Gwin at forty yards in 
three shots with a rifle isn't fit for any place within 
the gift of American freemen." Which illustrates 
the doubtful amenities that come with the years. 

In July, 1855, the Democrats, under the immi- 
nent pressure of danger, came together. Through 
overtures made by Broderick, who could not win 
with his slender cohorts, they met, harmonized and 
nominated candidates for the autumn elections. 

But a new contestant for political laurels 
appeared. 

Two principal political organizations existed in 
the state. Democrats and Whigs, the former 
largely outnumbering the latter. In fact, the 
Whigs had never gained a victory. The Know- 
Nothing, or American Party organization, which 
was born in a day, proclaimed as its chief tenet 
and doctrine rescission of voting rights from for- 
eigners. It demanded that no naturalized citizen 
should hold office, and it impliedly proscribed the 
Roman Catholic religion whose devotees were large- 
ly Irish. 

It began in the New England states and appar- 
92 



CONFLICT 

ently found fruitful soil for its principles in Cali- 
fornia, The new party swallowed the Whigs at 
one mouthful, and made a second meal of many 
Democrats, for the membership must come from 
the other parties, it having no previous exist- 
ence. Like a besom or a pestilence, or a fire or a 
sirocco, it swept the state in October, electing the 
entire ticket, including the governor and a ma- 
jority of the legislature. All this, notwithstanding 
that their ticket was not advertised in the press or 
at public meetings or placarded throughout the 
country. 

Absolutely no public announcement of the Know- 
Nothing candidates was made. Even on election 
day there were no men at the polling precincts 
distributing election ballots and advocating their 
choice, as was customary with the other parties. 

The candidates and proceedings were unknown 
as the doings of the Druids. Whilst orators de- 
claimed over the state, of the benefit to the common- 
wealth that would follow the adoption of the ab- 
stract and morbid doctrines the Know-Nothing 
platform demanded, yet not one avowed his can- 
didacy. It was like asking an army to fight with- 
out commanders. 

The able men who hitherto directed the state's 
destinies realized that an organization which pro- 
scribed a numerous section of American citizens 

93 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

and yet dared not avow its leadership could only 
be ephemeral. 

Like Rothschild with Napoleon, they gave it 
only a hundred days. Both friends and enemies 
of Broderick joined the exotic, and the struggle 
between them continued under the new banner. 
When the session of 1856 opened the Know-Noth- 
ings had a majority and might therefore elect a 
senator. But this majority included a number of 
former Democrats who still cherished secret devo- 
tion and allegiance to the old party that had gov- 
erned the nation so wisely these many years. Few 
believed in the permanency of the new dogmas. 
This doubt was augmented by the exposure of 
large and numerous defalcations committed by sev- 
eral of the lately chosen state officials. It was 
written that "they began the day after induction." 

The conflict of 1854 had its repetition. The 
struggle with Broderick then was to induce the 
Senate and Assembly to meet in joint convention. 
It was carried in the Assembly and only lost in 
the Senate by one vote, the one vote that prevented 
him from mounting the throne three years earlier 
than he did. Now, in 1856, Broderick 's purpose 
was to prevent the Know-Nothing legislature from 
assembling in joint convention, and again a com- 
fortable majority existed in the Assembly and a 
minute majority in the Senate. 

His deadly Democratic senatorial opponents in- 
94 



CONFLICT 

structed all their legislative friends to blindly 
obey the behests of Broderick, and then quietly 
went about their business. They knew by repeated 
experience his pre-eminent ability to handle con- 
ventions of this character. And again I must add 
that Gwin was not his only rival and therefore ally. 

Latham and McDougall were distinctly recog- 
nized as men of strength. Both had been members 
of the House of Representatives, both had served 
the state well and both brooked no one's patronage 
or suzerainty. After Broderick's death Latham 
became governor and senator, so he was made of 
winning material. In the end, Broderick, who never 
left Sacramento for one single day or night dur- 
ing the session, triumphed, and the legislature ad- 
journed for the third time without choosing a suc- 
cessor to Gwin, whose seat still remained cold. 

Judge David S. Terry who, it will be remem- 
bered, was a violent opponent of Broderick in the 
Democratic convention of the preceding year, re- 
nounced his early beliefs and joined the Know- 
Nothings. His reward, in the variegated wave that 
swept them on the sands of success, was election 
to the important and dignified position of Justice 
of the Supreme Court of the state of California. 
He assumed the supreme ermine on January 1, 
1856, the term being for four years. 



95 



CHAPTER VI 

THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

The law of nature, the primordial law which 
precedes civil law and civilization, is the law of 
self-preservation. A community or a nation at- 
tacked defends itself. Why not a man ? And if it 
comes to killing, why not kill rather than be killed 1 
When the constituted tribunals of a land fail or 
neglect to fulfill or accomplish the purpose for 
which they were created, society is resolved into its 
first elements and some new method must be 
adopted to preserve its existence. 

Opinions may vary as to the special occasion, 
epoch or necessity when the ordinary processes 
of justice, when formal law and legal courts be- 
come incompetent and inoperative, and when a 
community is warranted in adopting novel and 
extraordinary measures for its safety and the 
safety of its units, but that that right exists, though 
dormant, is established by the love of life and the 
right to live. What civilized nation exists today 
that did not commence its history with violence 
and the overthrow of settled customs and ordi- 
nances? What one so wise and sedate as to be 
content to mark time? That comes with age. But 

96 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

youth is turbulent, unruly and careless. And this 
abundant and abounding youth far away in dis- 
tant California chafed under ancient fetters and 
harked back to the savage days, when men like 
animals, fought and slew for very love of blood. 

A promiscuous habit of carrying weapons in- 
creased this tendency. When D'Artagnan and his 
compeers wore swords daily combats were the mode, 
and the Californian with revolver at the belt, 
was ever prepared with a quick eye and ready 
finger. 

In the beginning there were no laws, and later 
those chosen as legal expounders were often venal 
and inefficient. In early mining camps every one 
except the gamblers labored more or less diligently 
in actually excavating for gold, and seldom was 
an occurrence so grave as to require a legal tri- 
bunal and advocates. Some elderly personage was 
usually selected as alcalde, a species of governing 
official, but his duties were not onerous. The gam- 
bler's toil began with eventide, but if not deemed 
an honest gamester, for it seems there were such, 
he was told by the alcalde to leave, and he went. 

Those three first years in the gold regions, from 
'48 to '51, were Arcadian. The best, most capable 
and most intelligent young men of the world 
labored skilfully and patiently in the building of 
the state; but in San Francisco, the heart of this 
western world, the years brought changes for the 

97 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

worse. The British had established a penal colony 
in Australia, to which they sent felons from home. 
In time the sentences of many convicts terminated 
and others were granted tickets of leave. It was 
much easier and shorter to sail from Botany Bay 
to San Francisco than to the old country, and then 
there was the lure of gold. These gentry descended 
on the town like vampires and found congenial 
associates in various members of the Latin race 
from Mexico and South America. 

Robbery and assassination prospered. Arson 
was aristocratic. Several of the large fires that 
devastated the city during this epoch were ascribed 
to incendiarism. The courts — well, the courts and 
lawyers helped to protect, not to punish, vice. Be- 
sides, the prison was insecure and inadequate, and 
the police few and incapable. These misfortunes 
are perhaps unavoidable in new communities, where 
no one admits a master, but yet is so only with 
us Americans. It was not thus with the British, 
either in Australia or in the Klondike. We have 
the same laws, but with us the tribunals are 
superior to them ; with the British the tribunals 
obey the laws and do not override them. 

The citizens of San Francisco, foreseeing anarchy 
and pillage, determined on a very grave and seri- 
ous innovation, which was, to supersede the imbecile 
courts, execute the criminal laws themselves, and 
practice terrible experiments in the punishment of 
98 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

assassins. In June, 1851, a certain number of mer- 
chants, always the backbone of the town, banded 
tofjjetlicr and evolved an orj^anization wlii<!h was 
called The Cominittee of Vigilance, tlie first, I be- 
lieve, ever invoked in an Anglo-Saxon community to 
protect life and property whilst the law was perish- 
ing. This is the beginning of their declaration : 

"Whereas, it has become apparent to the citi- 
zens of San Francisco that there is no security for 
life and property, either under the regulations of 
society, as it at present exists, or under tiie law, as 
now administered ; 

"Therefore, the citizens wliose names are hiwe- 
unto attaciied do unite tlieiiisclves into an associa- 
tion for the niaintcnaiice of tlu! peace; and good 
order of society and the prciservation of the lives 
and |)r()p(!rty of the citizinis of San Francisco, and 
do hind themselves, each unto tlie other, to do and 
])erform every lawful act for the maintcinance of 
law and order and to sustain the laws when faith- 
fully and properly administered; but we are de- 
termined that no bui'glar, incendiary or assassin 
shall escape j)unishment, either by the quibbles of 
the law, the inscicurity of prisons, the carelessness 
or corruption oL" tlie ])()liee, or laxity of those who 
pretend to admin isi(!i; justice!. And to secure the 
obje(!ts of this association we do hereby agree: 

"That the luuue and style of the association 
shall be the Connnittee of Vigilance, for the pro- 
99 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

tection of the lives and property of the citizens 
and residents of the City of San Francisco. ' ' 

These brave words somehow recall the Declara- 
tion of Independence. There were other provisions 
providing for rooms, organization, equipment and 
sustenance, inviting every respectable and approved 
citizen to become a member, and finally averring 
that the action of a majority of the committee 
should be binding upon all, and pledging unquali- 
fied support to the committee "at the hazard of 
their lives and fortunes. ' ' Within a week a ' ' Sj^d- 
ney Cove" was captured in the commission of a 
felony. 

He was tried in the rooms of the committee by a 
jury and judge fashioned from their own member- 
ship. He was allowed an attorney, the right to 
testify and to call witnesses. The jury of sixty 
found him guilty, sentenced him to death, and he 
was hanged two hours later on the plaza, in the 
presence of the whole town. 

A month afterward they hanged another ex- 
convict from Australia who had committed and 
confessed to many murders. He was executed at 
the foot of Market street on the stroke of twelve, 
the Vigilantes forming an armed escort of a 
thousand stern and just judges. In August two 
more malefactors, who had confessed, were sus- 
pended by the neck at the corner of Battery and 
Bush streets, in full view of thousands, whose 
100 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

somber silence and fixed, resolute mien during the 
deliberate preparations for the execution appalled 
an English wanderer. He said they did not seem 
like men, but judges sent by Osiris from the nether 
world, so stern and implacable was their expression. 

Thus four were put to death, but only for crimes 
committed after the committee's organization. They 
let the law deal, if it would, with the many untried 
criminals in the jails before their appearance, but 
they were unyielding in punishing, if they could 
not prevent the commission of crimes during their 
existence. 

The municipal officials did nothing; they were 
helpless, and no one either pitied or trusted them, 
for justice never cleansed their venal hands. 

In August, before the last hangings, the gov- 
ernor of the state issued a proclamation asking all 
good citizens to sustain public law and tranquillity, 
aid public officers in discharge of their duty and to 
discontinue any attempt to substitute the despotic 
control of a self -constituted association, unknown, 
and acting in defiance of the laws, in place of the 
regularly organized government of the country. 

To this the Vigilantes replied : ' ' We, the under- 
signed, do hereby aver that the present Governor 
McDougall asked to be introduced to the executive 
committee of the Committee of Vigilance, which 
was allowed and an hour fixed. The governor, upon 
being introduced, stated that he approved the acts 
101 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

of the committee, and that much good had taken 
place. He hoped that they would go on and en- 
deavor to act in concert with the authorities, and 
in case any judges were guilty of mal-administra- 
tion to hang them and he would appoint others." 
There was a governor ! 

Hang the judges! But that millenium has not 
even yet arrived. His proclamation was necessary, 
as head of the state, but there was no question of his 
sjTnpathies and convictions as a citizen of the com- 
monwealth. Their work was done. Not a killing, 
save those for which they hanged the killers, had 
occurred in three months in the city. 

Many rascals had fled the town, some leaving the 
state and some going into the interior. There was 
less arson, less robbery and gambling. People dared 
to walk the streets at night. 

The officers awoke from their lethargy. Justice 
was no longer blind or leaden-heeled. Trade in- 
creased and new edifices multiplied. 

The Vigilance Committee of 1851 ceased to act, 
but the association never formallj^ dissolved. The 
membership roster was retained and the officers 
guarded their designations. Like the sleeping 
Swiss, they awaited the next call to arms, which 
came five years later. For, though the action of the 
Vigilantes rendered criminals less popular for a 
period, the old conditions began presently to recur. 

During the first half of the decade serious doubts 
102 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

as to the permanency of the gold deposits existed. 
In 1854 a marked diminution of the product oc- 
curred, and properties of all descriptions declined 
excessively in value. It was not until the next 
year, when new, rich and large placers in Shasta 
and Siskiyou counties were unearthed that the bird, 
Confidence, returned. 

Miners, especially, were like Arabs, roving from 
gorge to gorge, seeking more lucrative deposits. Few 
claims lasted more than a year at best, and then 
the search for others continued. The alluvial soils 
containing gold were quickly exhausted. The era 
of quartz mines and mills had not yet commenced. 
Hence their relative permanency was unknown. 

People wandered, therefore, from one camp to 
another, giving rise to a turbulent and fluctuating 
population. Possessed of no interest in the soil, 
and very often penniless, with a distant memory of 
moral restraint and little dread of the weak forces 
of authority, they were exposed to strong tempta- 
tion. After the Thirty Years' War a large pro- 
portion of the disbanded soldiery became bandits. 
There was no other similar occupation. 

To California in the early years came the cream 
of the world, but it was followed by the dregs of 
the world. Men whose careers were ended at home, 
whose names spelled vice and debauchery ; who had 
run the race and were marked and known in the 
eastern states ; in a word, those whose records were 
103 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

not clean and whose hopes were ended, came to this 
alluring land on the western sea to forget and to 
live anew. The newcomer was never asked his name 
and address. He told what he pleased and it was 
accepted. Men have lived in partnership for 
months, digging the same mine, living in the same 
cabin, sleeping in the same cot and finally separ- 
ated without one knowing either the true name or 
antecedents of the other. It was the way of the 
mines and pleasant, genial, faithful comradeship 
for the time. If they met again why well and 
good, if not, the parting had been agreeable. 

There was another picture in the state gallery. 
The Saturday night and Sunday wassail. Gamblers 
had become an integral portion of every prosperous 
mining hamlet. With their shaven faces, white 
linen and expensive jewelry they stood out from 
the honest worker as a wolf among honest dogs. 
Games of many varieties with cards flourished, and 
the gamekeeper w^as an expert ; otherwise he failed 
at his trade. All labor in the mines ceased from 
Saturday afternoon to Monday morning, and the 
gold that had been mined during the week was taken 
on Saturday to the little town. Armed with this 
universal weapon which he had gathered from a 
week 's grinding, laborious toil in water and mud at 
the bottom of dangerous shafts the happy, careless, 
reckless miner would meet the professional and 
play. Drinking, cursing, gambling, kniving, shoot- 
104 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

ing, all follow in normal seqnence. Sometimes it is 
the gambler, more often the miner, for the former 
never drinks on duty and is as ready with the re- 
volver as with the cards. Like the Egyptians who 
buried their dead in ground useless for any other 
purpose, the miners always devoted Sundays to in- 
quests. If it was the gambler it was "justifiable 
self-defense." The coroner took charge of his 
effects, sold the card paraphernalia and retained 
the whole for fees and funeral expenses. If it was 
the miner the gambler was sometimes ordered out 
of town and sometimes he was hanged. It de- 
pended upon the mood of the miners and the 
standing of the dead man. What of the 
courts and lawyers? The judges and satellites 
would be in session at the county seat and the 
miners saved them exertion and the county expense. 
The gambler would repair to another camp, but 
killing is not a vocation to be commended, for one 
knows and remembers. He would be shunned, few 
would pay tribute to his talents, and he well knew 
that in an affray he would be given no chance unless 
he shot first. 

Yet he must live and he would not work. So he 
took to robbing cabins, sluice-boxes and stage- 
coaches. The last was the boldest, most dangerous 
and chivalrous occupation of all and commanded 
everyone's admiration except that of the passen- 
gers. For one man to stop a four-horse coach 
105 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

in the open, rob the dozen travelers — most of 
whom had revolvers in their belts, whilst the rob- 
ber carried his revolver in his hand — equalled 
the exploits of England's most doughty highway- 
men. 

Throughout the gold fields the Vigilance Com- 
mittee of San Francisco of 1851 had follow- 
ers and exemplars. Lynch law prevailed, but the 
culprit was always tried patiently and equitably, 
and was hanged only when the twelve jurymen, 
under oath, as in the rounded legal chamber, so 
decided and agreed. 

These men said: "After all, what difference 
exists between the first trial by jury and the lynch 
execution among a colony of men living far from 
civilization? Was the peace of a community of 
honest men to be disturbed by unpunished crime 
and bloodshed, when, from circumstances, the law of 
their country was unable to protect them ? ' ' These 
and similar questions formed the basis of the argu- 
ment in defense of lynch law in the mountains. 
And it must be added that the fear as well as the 
reality of lynch law was beneficial. In several 
localities public indignation was confined to order- 
ing unsavory characters to leave camp in twenty- 
four hours, and the command was rarely disobeyed. 
Driven with ignominy from the mountains and val- 
leys a proportion of these wastrels drifted to the 
metropolis, wicked with vile and vicious thoughts, 
106 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

engendered by their expulsion. They joined the 
city bands of ruffians and marauders, and little 
by little the old horrors of violence, arson, robberies 
and murders recommenced. Every morning there 
was ' ' a man for breakfast. ' ' 

The old delays, the old tribunals; perjury, quib- 
bles and technical errors ; corrupt and dense prose- 
cutors; ignorance and venality leading the jury; 
misunderstood and misapplied laws ; life itself, and 
freedom again to continue the course of rapine and 
murder were once more the privileges of the de- 
lighted criminal. 

On November 18, 1855, occurred the Cora-Rich- 
ardson affair. One must be careful of the dates in 
describing these tragedies, like those that marked 
the French Revolution. Napoleon always said that 
the eighteenth Brumaire was one of the most poten- 
tial days in his career. Cora and Richardson 
met by hazard in a saloon. They were mutally 
presented and drank several times together, finally 
separating after a quarrel, in which neither was 
blameless, as is usual when Bacchus intervenes. 
The following day they again encountered one an- 
other in the same place; another dispute ensued; 
they went outside, scuffled, and Cora shot Richard- 
son through the heart. The coroner's jury — impan- 
eled the next day — in session over the dead body, in 
the presence of which they examined Cora and 
other witnesses, reported unanimously that Rich- 
107 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

ardson "was deprived of his life by Cora, and from 
the facts produced, the jury believe that the said 
act was premeditated and that there was nothing 
to mitigate the same." Every juror signed this 
report. 

General Richardson was a distinguished citizen 
of the state. Coming to California in the '49 
hegira he had resided there continuously; always 
active in public affairs; was esteemed and re- 
garded. When killed he was United States mar- 
shal, a promotion awarded only to the best. 

Charles Cora, an Italian, was a professional 
gambler and consorted openly with the keeper of 
a bagnio. The two men were antithetical in career 
and character. They represented two diverse 
classes in the city, the man and the man-killer. 
The crime loomed large amid the conventional mur- 
ders and the whole town was amazed and terrified. 

The trial took place two months later. Because 
of the tense and continued excitement the usual 
interminable delays were abridged. Cora was sur- 
rounded by the most brilliant array of counsel that 
money could hire. Colonel E. D. Baker was one 
of them. This same Baker, who afterward pro- 
nounced the classic discourse over the slain Brod- 
erick, became senator from Oregon and died facing 
the foe while leading his men in a thrilling charge, 
full against the enemy, at Ball's Bluff! And yet 
108 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

this same Baker defended Cora, the pander, the 
gambler, the deliberate murderer! 

What will not lawyers do for money? There 
was a veiled, floating legend that Baker at first 
accepted a generous fee from the woman, and that, 
shortly afterward, recognizing the universal pub- 
lic attention concentrated on the case and the oblo- 
quy he might encounter, he endeavored to with- 
draw, but she refused to take back the money and 
he was compelled to continue. There was another 
saying prevalent at the same time that a San Fran- 
cisco advocate stopped at nothing to save his crim- 
inal client except committing the same crime. 

The jury disagreed after forty-one hours' con- 
finement and was dismissed. These are the com- 
ments of a city journal on the day following: 

"Men were placed upon that jury who should 
never have been there. They went upon it in order 
to defeat the ends of justice, in other words, to 'tie' 
the jury. This they effectually did. It is not 
pleasant for us to comment upon the depravity 
which has been brought to light in the trial. It is 
not very agreeable to state that the conviction is 
almost universal, that crime cannot be punished in 
San Francisco. 

''But it is, nevertheless, a duty which we owe 

to the public community, as journalists, to put the 

people upon their guard. It is well for every man 

to understand that life here is to be protected at 

109 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the muzzle of the pistol. The best man in San 
Francisco may be shot down tomorrow by some ruf- 
fian who does not like what he has said or done; 
yet the chances are an hundred to one that that ruf- 
fian will escape punishment. He may go through 
the farce of a trial, but nothing more. Now, what 
is to be the end of this ? Crime will become so fre- 
quent that it cannot be longer endured. Then will 
come lynch law, then men even suspected of crime 
will be hung ; for people cannot long live as things 
are now running. No man's life is safe, in our 
opinion, for a single moment." 

This publication, four months preceding the 
birth of the 1856 Vigilance Committee, evidences 
clearly the trend of public opinion. It was not 
sudden nor spasmodic. It was coming, deadly and 
terrible, if crime continued. What people thought 
in the East may be perused in this excerpt from a 
New York periodical of January, 1856 : 

"Assassinations, murders and hangings consti- 
tute the leading materials of the budget of news in 
San Francisco. First, we are told that General 
W. H. Richardson, United States marshal for the 
Northern District of California, was basel}^ assassi- 
nated in the streets of San Francisco on the even- 
ing 01 November 19 by a desperado named Charles 
Cora. Then, that Hon. Isaac B. Wall, collector of 
the port of Monterey, and T. S. Williamson, an 
officer of the county of Monterey, were murdered 
110 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

on the 10th inst. Then we have duels and robbery 
eases innumerable. The papers devote large space 
to the particulars of these horrors, showing a state 
of things, especially in San Francisco, which car- 
ries one back to the days of vigilance. The provo- 
cation to hang the murderer of General Richard- 
son was very strong, but the good sense of the 
better portion of the people overcame the passion 
of the moment and induced them to await the 
proper judicial tribunal. It is surprising to see 
in what a matter-of-fact, business-like way the Cali- 
fornia editors post the books of their criminal cal- 
endar. Here, for instance, is a recapitulation of 
the statistics of killings and hangings from the 1st 
of January last to date : 

1st 2nd 3rd 
Quar. Quar. Quar. Oct. Total 

Total killed 120 99 208 62 489 

Hung by sheriff. .2 2 2 6 

Hung by mob.... 8 14 18 6 46 

' ' Horrible ! Horrible ! Total killed in only ten 
months, 489; hung 52. Kentucky must give up 
the name of the 'dark and bloody ground' — which 
is simply a traditional Indian nomenclature — 
while here is ghastly reality in California. ' ' 

The New York scribe might have added that for 
the 489 murdered men the sacred law had only 
punished six of the 489 assassins ! 

It is true the miners were industrious. They did 
111 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

fairly well, hanging forty-six wretches; but they 
could not do everything. 

And so the scroll remained. After the mis- 
trial of Cora he was committed to prison. It was 
thought best by those who aided him to let several 
months expire before agitating for a second trial. 
They counted on the proverbial forgetfulness by 
the many of that which coneerna the many. Ob- 
livion companions time. Nevertheless, the fashion- 
ableness of crime had somewhat abated. The 
slaughter of Richardson had evoked such openly 
expressed exclamations of fierce resentment that 
scoundrels were cowed. But this resentment was 
restrained by the deep feeling of regard and respect 
for the laws and welfare of the city, by men who 
hesitated to usurp the functions of justice and 
who quietly waited. 

James King of William, a Virginian, was one 
of the early pioneers, and joined the Vigilantes of 
1851, already portrayed. Like others who came 
to seek fortune, he had engaged in different occu- 
pations, including banking. 

The bank of which he was manager failed and 
he was directly censured. But that was a misfor- 
tune and not a crime. Possessed of some literary 
acumen and a disdain and contempt for those who 
disturbed the city's reputation and tranquillity, he 
thought that an honest newspaper might exist. 

With slender resources, obtained from friends, 
112 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

he established the Evening Bulletin, which still 
flourishes, without change of appellation. His 
sharp, sarcastic paragraphs, clarity of statement, 
and the vigor and vehemence with which he daily 
assailed public wrongs and their perpetrators made 
both editor and journal marked and distinct above 
others. Included in .these others was a weekly 
paper owned and published by James P. Casey. 
These two men represented the two moral and polit- 
ical extremes. 

On a Sunday Casey's journal printed an article 
from an anonymous contributor. The article related 
that King's brother had vainly sought a fed- 
eral office, the one, in fact, held by General Richard- 
son at his death, and that he had been ignominiously 
repulsed. Meanwhile, King was daily attacking 
the federal brigade and asserting their active or 
silent co-operation with the blackguards of the city. 

King's brother went to Casey's office, denied the 
statement and demanded the author's name. Casey 
refused, truculently adding that he held himself 
responsible. A day or two later Casey heard that 
James King had ascertained some unpleasant de- 
tails of his career and contemplated publishing 
them. He repaired to the Bulletin office and re- 
monstrated with King, but the latter give him slight 
recognition. The same evening: the Bulletin con- 
tained a statement, from whicb the annexed is an 
extract. 

113 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

"The fact that Casey has been an inmate of Sing 
Sing prison in New York is no offense against the 
laws in this state; nor is the fact of his having 
stuffed himself through the ballot-box, as elected to 
the Board of Supervisors from a district where it 
is said he was not even a candidate, any justifica- 
tion why Mr. Bagley should shoot Casey; however 
richly the latter may deserve having his neck 
stretched for such fraud on the people." Strong 
provocation surely; but hardly a killing matter, 
when it was true ! The evil that men do lives with 
them as well as after them. 

Casey after reading the paper lurked in the 
vicinity of King's office until the latter departed 
for home. Casey suddenly confronted King on the 
street near by and shot him. The latter sank to the 
ground mortally wounded. 

Casey was arrested and incarcerated. It was five 
in the afternoon, when the thoroughfares were 
crowded, and the appalling intelligence was direct- 
ly known. 

The similarity both in characters and circum- 
stances raised the cries: "Another Cora and 
Richardson affair," "More hung juries and less 
hung men," "He will get clear if the officers keep 
him." 

With one brain and action, as if in telepathic con- 
cert, maddened men ran to the city prison ; but the 
heavy outside iron doors leading to the halls were 
114 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

closed and locked, and the inner station was guard- 
ed and barricaded. King was too severely hurt 
to be transferred to his residence. He was ten- 
derly raised, carefully placed on a cot, hurried 
to the nearest office, and in thirty minutes five 
of the best physicians in town were at the bedside, 
fighting death. Around the building where he 
rested thronged a sorrowing multitude whose sym- 
pathy was soon changed to violent frenzy when the 
medical men stated the gravity of the wound, while 
cries of : " Let us organize and hang him ! hang all 
the gamblers!" terrified the air. Darkness came 
and the authorities, fearing a night attack on the 
city prison, planned to remove Casey to the stronger 
county jail on Broadway. A carriage was osten- 
tatiously brought to the main entrance, and while 
the populace watched and waited, he was quietly 
removed by a side door, pushed into a conveyance, 
a pistol thrust into either hand and, drawn by 
speedy and strong horses, dashing up the steep 
incline, the prisoner was made safe in his new 
cell before the manoeuvre could be detected and 
thwarted. Ten thousand desperate men surged 
and seethed all night around the solid prison walls 
like storm-tossed waves dashing on an island light- 
house. The policemen, aided by two city troops hast- 
ily summoned from their quarters, mustered a force 
of three hundred, who kept guard in the jail and 
patrolled the walls. A woman hard by was asked 
115 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

to provide food for them, but she hotly refused 
and not one of the neighboring residents would 
furnish shelter or coffee to the defenders of "law 
and order." 

It was a fearful night and there might have been 
a massacre had the fates so willed. Every building 
in the vicinity was alive with humanity, and the 
thrilling and exciting scenes exceeded any occur- 
rence during the old Vigilance Committee era. 
The mayor endeavored to address the people from 
the jail steps, saying : ' ' Let the law have its course 
and justice will be done." But they replied: 
"Look at the case of poor Richardson. How is 
it in his case? Where is Cora now? Down on 
such justice. Let us hang him ! ' ' Unable to 
secure a hearing he retired. Cora must have heard 
these fearful demands from his cell near by, which 
he had restlessly trodden for six months. The ru- 
mor that King's condition was somewhat alleviated 
and that the doctors were more hopeful, tranquil- 
lized the impatient mass and the night closed in 
quiet, waiting for the day. 



116 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE CONTINUED 

The next morning a call appeared in the press 
for a meeting of citizens at IO51/2 Sacramento 
street, in the quarters lately occupied by the 
Native American party. During the day a thou- 
sand men signed the roster of the committee and 
sanctioned the adoption of a constitution. This 
document was a repetition of the one under which 
the Vigilantes of five years earlier acted. 

It embraced several additional provisions to pro- 
vide for the present emergencies. For example: 
"that the action of this body shall be entirely and 
vigorously free from all consideration of or parti- 
cipation in the merits or demerits, or opinions, or 
acts of any and all sects, political parties or section- 
al divisions in this community; and every class of 
orderly citizens, of whatever sect, party or nativity, 
may become members of this body. No discussion 
of political, sectional or sectarian subjects shall be 
allowed in the rooms of the association. That no 
person accused before this body shall be punished 
until after fair and impartial trial and conviction. 
No vote inflicting the death penalty shall be binding 
117 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

unless passed by two thirds of those present and 
entitled to vote." 

This thousand embraced the principal merchants 
and professional men, those best known for charac- 
ter, influence and standing. 

The two city troops that had protected the jail the 
night previous, promptly sent their resignations to 
the governor, stacked their arms in the armory, 
disbanded, and then the major portion proceeded 
to the Vigilante headquarters and appended their 
signatures to the membership list. Mass meetings 
assembled at Sacramento, Nevada, Placerville, Fol- 
som and Marysville denouncing the shooting of 
King, approving the organization and purposes 
of the committee and offering armed assistance if 
requested. The following from the Marysville 
meeting indicates the universal expression: 

' ' That we recognize in James King, editor of the 
Bulletin, the sincere and earnest friend of the 
poor; the bold and fearless exposer of vice, crime 
and corruption ; the independent and uncompromis- 
ing opponent of official villians and swindlers, and 
the best and most faithful exponent our State has 
afforded of that sentiment which prevails every- 
where among the masses of the people." 

Thousands of miners ceased their labors, belted 

their revolvers, shouldered their rifles and hastened 

to the city. There was an immediate cessation of 

business and traffic ; the dense masses in the streets 

118 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

awaiting with intense interest the bulletins of the 
doctors. Mr. King lingered several days, and mean- 
while the swelling numbers of the committee; the 
purchase by their representatives of every weapon 
in the gun shops; the seizure of those in the ar- 
mories, including two pieces of ordnance with 
abundant ammunition, and the constant drilling in 
companies of a hundred men each day and night, 
evidenced the resolute firmness, admirable plan- 
ning and cool foresight of the leaders. Governor 
Johnson came down from Sacramento and held 
a conference with the executive committee. By 
his instructions the sheriff who kept the prison 
allowed a small body of Vigilantes to camp within 
the walls. The committee was resolved that Casey 
should not be spirited away. The sheriff, through 
his deputies, served a document on citizens he en- 
countered in the streets commanding them to ap- 
pear at the jail, prepared to serve under his au- 
thority. 

One hundred were summoned ; but fifty respond- 
ed, of whom the moiety were legal advocates. King 
was of strong and buoyant physique; he fought 
hard. On Saturday night his condition was worse. 
The Vigilantes had been directed to assemble on 
the ringing of the Monumental Fire Engine Com- 
pany's bell. The fateful bell rang out slowly and 
distinctly at nine o'clock on Sunday morning. It 
seemed not unexpected. People were waiting, 
119 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

ready and strained to the work. Moving throngs 
hurried to the Sacramento street quarters, where 
they were assigned arms. Already they knew the 
military duties. At midday an army of twenty- 
six hundred men, cavalry, infantry and artillery, 
armed and equipped in strict martial array, pro- 
ceeded in regular marching order to the prison 
which they completely surrounded. 

Placing two cannon in front of the gates, these 
were deliberately loaded with ball and powder in 
full view of the inmates. Then Mr. W. T. Cole- 
man, the president of the organization, with three 
other members, advanced to the doors, requested 
audience of the sheriff and demanded of him the 
custody of Cora and Casey. As the imposing force 
wound up the hill to the prison portals the sheriff 
went to the cell of Casey and said: "There are 
two thousand armed men coming for you and I 
have not thirty men about the jail." Casey re- 
plied: ''Then do not peril your life and that of 
the officers in defending me ; I will go with them. ' ' 

When Coleman and his associates came to his 
cell, Casey asked for a fair trial and protection in 
leaving. He was apprehensive of being hanged 
forthwith. Both were assured and Casey came 
out, was placed in a carriage and taken to rooms 
prepared for him at headquarters. Cora was 
placed in a second carriage and joined him an hour 
later. They were guarded and escorted by the 
120 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

whole force with all San Francisco as silent specta- 
tors ; for it is said there was no disturbance of any 
kind. 

The entire proceedings were conducted with the 
dignity and decorum of a funeral. When men 
contemplate death, levity disappears. Three hun- 
dred Vigilantes remained on guard day and night. 
The rest of the army marched quietly down to the 
bay and discharged their weapons, in order to pre- 
vent accidents and be again prepared for the ring- 
ing of the bell. 

King died on Tuesday, six days after he was shot. 
An inquest and trial were had and the verdict 
rendered read: "That the deceased came to his 
death by a pistol ball fired by James S. Casey and 
that the act was premediated and unjustifiable." 
Two days later, the 22nd of May, 1856, King was 
interred. 

As the funeral cortege of ten thousand silent 
mourners pressed down Montgomery street, they 
were startled on gazing to the left to see, a hundred 
yards distant, the suspended, swaying bodies of 
Cora and Casey. The vast multitude of soldiers, 
spectators and mourners, encompassing the sable 
catafalque, and the lithe figures overhead, quivering 
in the mellow spring sunshine, constituted such a 
sombre spectacle as has been rarely witnessed. 
Before being hanged, Casey addressed a few sen- 
tences to the listeners; Cora said nothing. They 
121 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

both died like men, bravely. The two thousand 
armed Vigilantes who had witnessed the execution 
in stoical silence, were then drawn up in line, double 
file, and reviewed by the superior officers. Thereafter 
they countermarched to headquarters and, entering 
through one door, stacked arms and filed out 
through the opposite exit to mingle again with their 
fellow citizens. 

The power they had assumed for a definite pur- 
pose was finished, and they resumed their various 
vocations after its accomplishment. They believed 
what was done was best done, for the will of the 
good people should be the law of the land. San 
Francisco, that had been aghast and stupefied since 
the shooting of King, lived once more. In its ar- 
teries flowed again the ripe blood of commerce; 
people were aroused from their lethargy, and life's 
game continued, as when sand is thrown over the 
red stains, the dead gladiator dragged from the 
Roman arena and the combat renewed. 

But the committee retained its existence, ac- 
tivity and organization — inexorable, indefatigable, 
implacable. It declared itself ' ' a regulating court, 
determined to enforce measures to prevent the far- 
ther perpetration of crime and corruption in the 
community. We allow persons of all nations and 
tongues of good moral character to become mem- 
bers. These are fundamental principles of the 
body and will be rigidly adhered to. All creeds, 
122 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

religious and political opinions must be thrown 
aside. We enter the great battle of virtue against 
vice, of right against wrong, of liberty against op- 
pression, and we are determined at all hazards to 
crush out the monster vice of election frauds as one 
of the greatest causes of our troubles." 

I quote thus copiously from their proceedings 
and proclamations for it is my opinion that men 
who combined for such grave purpose and did 
such grave deeds without legal warranty can give 
better reasons for their actions than others. No 
one has ever been able to state our grievances 
against Britain more lucidly than they are stated 
in the Declaration of Independence. 

The conunittee arrested and imprisoned many 
persons suspected or known to be guilty of crimes. 
One of these, overcome by terror, committed suicide. 
They were all tried and, if found guilty, various 
penalties were imposed, the most serious being 
banishment from California. In such cases the 
culprits were placed on sea-going vessels for Aus- 
tralia, Europe or the Orient and warned not to 
return under penalty of death. 

The mayor and officials of the city made no 
effort to thwart the energetic actions of the Vigi- 
lantes. The governor at the committee's initiative 
did not oppose them. On the contrary, after con- 
ferring with the leaders he instructed the sheriff to 
receive a number of Vigilantes in the prison, for the 
123 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

purpose of overseeing Casey and Cora, and prevent- 
ing attempts at escape. After their execution he be- 
came more hostile to the committee, and issued 
orders to W. T. Sherman authorizing him to raise 
troops, incorporate with them the enrolled militia 
and stand ready for the enforcement of the law. 

The governor's proceedings were exactly parallel 
with those of his predecessor five years previous, 
and one might presume that he was simply fol- 
lowing an established precedent. W. T. Sherman 
had been a West Point graduate, but at this period 
was a member of a San Francisco banking house. 
Because of his military education the governor very 
properly proclaimed Sherman major-general of the 
California National Guard. Sherman issued orders 
directing volunteer captains to fill their companies 
to the highest standard, and for all other citizens 
not legally exempt to enroll, form companies of fifty, 
elect a captain, and report to him for duty. The 
number of those, including new recruits, who re- 
ported at his quarters was seventy-five, to oppose 
whom the Vigilantes had five thousand men, with 
a regular battery of field pieces. Two days after 
the governor's proclamation was issued, the com- 
mittee tried, found guilty and deported on an out- 
going vessel a half dozen vicious and desperate 
characters. 

There were some good men in the city who had 
not as yet become affiliated with the committee. 
124 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

Several of these gentlemen repaired to Benicia 
and interviewed the governor; Sherman, Terry, 
Douglas, the secretary of state, and several other 
state officials attending. They asserted emphatic- 
ally that they M^ere not Vigilantes nor cognizant 
of the Vigilantes' projects; but if the governor 
undertook to suppress the society by force it would 
cause a crisis and bloodshed. 

The vacillating and temporizing executive hesi- 
tated, and Sherman in disgust resigned his com- 
mission after five days tenancy thereof. When 
he died, years later, he was general of all the armies 
of the United States. 

The very day after his resignation one of the 
city companies that had been summoned by Sher- 
man met and resolved to 'disband; but at once 
reorganized under the name of the Independent 
National Guard, subject to such rules in sustaining 
the cardinal interests of the community as they 
thought best, but distinctly disavowing all con- 
nection with state authorities. 

Marshal North, who had been very alert in per- 
sistent antagonism to the committee, resigned as 
city marshal. The press of San Francisco num- 
bered several daily papers. Of these the Herald 
was perhaps the best written, most influential and 
successful. Existing since 1849, it had approved 
the Vigilantes of 1851. On this occasion it at 
first exhibited vacillation and presently denounced 
125 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the Vigilantes in no uncertain terms. The ven- 
geance of the Vigilantes was prompt and incisive. 
An immense number of copies were heaped together 
on Front Street and burned by merchants and em- 
ployees. The tradespeople then simply withdrew 
their subscriptions and advertisements. The next 
issue of the Herald following the denunciation 
shrunk from forty to twenty-four columns; in a 
week to sixteen, and then it became moribund. 
Encouraged by these marks of public support, 
the committee issued the following clear and vigor- 
ous statement to the people of California, explain- 
ing and justifying their actions: 

"Embodied in the principles of republican gov- 
ernment are the truths that the majority shall 
rule, and when corrupt officials who have fraudu- 
lently seized the reins of authority, designedly 
thwart the execution of the laws of punishment 
upon the notoriously guilty, then the power they 
usurped reverts back to the people from whom 
it was wrested. Realizing these truths, and con- 
fident that they were carrying out the will of the 
vast majority of the citizens of this country, the 
Committee of Vigilance, under a solemn sense of 
responsibility that rested upon them, have calmly 
and dispassionately weighed the evidence before 
them and decreed the death of some who, by their 
crimes and villianies, had stained our fair land. 

"Our single, heartfelt aim is the public good: 
126 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

the purging from our community of those aban- 
doned characters whose actions have been evil con- 
tinually and have finally forced upon uS the efforts 
we are now making. Beyond the duties incident 
to this we do not desire to interfere with the de- 
tails of government. Our labors have been ar- 
duous, our deliberations have been cautious, our 
determination firm, our counsels prudent, our mo- 
tives pure, and when the community shall be freed 
from the evils it has so long endured, when we have 
insured to our citizens an honest and vigorous 
protection of their rights, then this Committee of 
Vigilance will find great pleasure in resigning 
their power into the hands of the people from 
whom it was received." 

But while thus explaining their motives the 
committee did not neglect other and different pre- 
cautions. It selected a square by the water front, 
bounded by four streets. A few small buildings oc- 
cupied part of this square and within were con- 
structed cells, guard-houses and trial courts. 

The principal front was protected by a sand- 
bag breastwork, ten feet high and six feet wide, 
constructed twenty feet from a wall, fronting the 
square. A narrow passage through this fortifica- 
tion admitted members to the interior, which was 
diligently and discreetly guarded night and day. 
Upon the strengthened roof were located a large 
alarm bell and several field pieces. The executive 
127 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

chamber was a spacious room decorated with Ameri- 
can flags. It was denominated Fort Vigilance. 
Every Vigilante knew his number and company 
and was obligated whenever the dread bell should 
ring out the alarum, at whatever hour it might be, 
to go at once to the fort, shoulder his rifle, join his 
company and stand for orders. 

For over two months following the execution of 
Cora and Casey not a single man was murdered 
in the streets or houses of San Francisco. Not a 
single one ! A record hitherto unknown in the 
annals of the town. The fear of Vigilante ven- 
geance was effective protection. The cry of a "man 
for breakfast" was forgotten and people breathed. 

Then came the reopening — a quarrel, verbal al- 
tercation and ruthless shooting on the street in open 
day. The assassin had shot a man on the street 
in a similar manner three years before and the 
complacent jury acquitted him. But things were 
different now. He was promptly seized, jailed anJ 
tried in the executive chamber. He was permitted 
attorneys, witnesses and every legitimate method of 
disproving the grave crime. After three days' 
patient hearing the committee of four hundred 
sworn and attentive members adjudged him guilty 
and pronounced the penalty — death. 

Another prisoner within the fortress walls had 
killed two men a year or two previous and com- 
mitted other felonies which he had boastingly and 
128 



THE COMMITTEE OF MGILANXE 

insolently avowed. Divided and bought juries had 
hitherto saved him, but it was different now. He 
also was tried, convicted, condemned and, on the 
29th of July, the two were hanged together like 
Cora and Casey in the presence of a Viligance 
military force au lamented to five thousand men. 
A looker-on said that "a more impressive, dramatic 
or tragic scene was seldom seen." By now the 
Vigilantes had procured bayonets, which were at- 
tached to their muskets, and constant drilling gave 
them a martial and resolute array. The gray- 
haired and the black-haired stood together; arrest- 
ing the laws; hanging men without cowl, candle 
or .judge, yet no execution was ever more grave or 
solemn. The silence of the tomb jjervaded the 
brilliant July day, and fifty thousand spectators 
assisted at the event. If death is to be the penalty 
for death, it would seem that the more p»ublic the 
punishment the more deterrent the effect. "SVhat 
we do not see we may not fear. To view a hang- 
ing would deter the average spectator I should 
think from participation as principal. 

Judge Edward McGowan was an intimate aiiso- 
ciate of Casey. It was surmised that he was cog- 
nizant and encouraged Casey in his crime, as he was 
seen in the latter 's company on the street a few 
minutes before King was shot. It was even asserted 
that the weapon used by Casey belonged to Mc- 
129 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Gowan, and he was at once indicted by the Grand 
Jury as an accessory. 

Therefore the Vigilantes sought him after the 
assassination when these events were known, with 
an ardor that was compelling. McGowan was secret- 
ed by friends in the town and a few weeks later 
made a thrilling escape from the guarded city. He 
rode swiftly five hundred miles to Santa Barbara, 
a most romantic journey, replete with interesting 
adventures. While at Santa Barbara his identity 
was discovered, and the committee sent several Vig- 
ilantes to arrest and bring him back, in which they 
were cordially assisted by the Santa Barbara au- 
thorities. All over the interior sympathy and sup- 
port were devoted to the Committee of Safety. 
Armed military organizations in Sacramento, 
Marysville and Placer offered to march to San 
Francisco and to imite with the Vigilantes if de- 
manded. McGowan fled the beautiful hamlet 
by the sea, whence he escaped by a desperate 
chance and remained ensconced alone, hidden in the 
mountains, coming down by night and digging po- 
tatoes in the fields, which he devoured raw. 

For weeks he thus existed and, finally, months 
later, when the fires had died out, the committee 
disbanded and men were trying to forget, if not 
forgive, he returned again on horseback, resting 
at several of the mouldering old missions en route. 
He describes his experiences in a fascinating vol- 
130 




DAVID S. TERRY 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

ume, the glamour of which is scarce exceeded by 
the most brilliant romances of Dumas or Scott. 

He was subsequently tried and acquitted on the 
indictment and existed to a ripe age, leaving 
descendants who are of the most valued and 
respected in the land. 

The office-holders representing ' ' Law and Order, ' ' 
were naturally violently opposed to the committee, 
inasmuch as it had divested them of any real au- 
thority in both city and state. They met frequently 
in conference, but were unable to formulate any 
successful plan of antagonism. Power, influence, 
sympathy, righteousness and numbers joined with 
the committee. As an instance, several cases of 
rifles had been secretly shipped on a vessel sailing 
from Benicia. These weapons were consigned to 
one of the few city military companies newly re- 
cruited for "Law and Order." 

Before touching its destination the bark and 
contents were captured on the bay by the efficient 
agents of the committee. Two men of the guard 
escaped to San Francisco and took refuge in the 
office of the captain of the company for whose use 
the weapons were intended. Hopkins, one of the 
Vigilante police, was sent to arrest these men, but 
he found in the apartment a number of people, 
including Judge David S. Terry, Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the state. Hopkins, encountering 
resistance, rushed out and, mounting a horse, 
131 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

dashed to the headquarters, summoned assistance, 
and dashed back. Meanwhile, the party of half 
a dozen, including Terry, all well armed with 
shotguns and pistols, left the rooms and hurried 
along the streets towards the armory of the com- 
pany. 

But Hopkins overtook them, jumped from his 
horse, and undertook to pass Terry and another 
man, who formed the rear guard, the two men 
Hopkins sought being in front. Terry raised his 
shotgun, Hopkins seized it and pushed it down. 
Then a scuffle ensued, and Terry drawing a bowie 
knife, stabbed Hopkins deeply in the left side of 
the neck. A melee followed between the rest of 
Terry's party and a number of citizens who came 
to Hopkins' rescue, but, although a shot was fired, 
no one was killed or injured, and the assailed partj' 
finally reached the armory, which was quickly bar- 
ricaded. The ominous song of the heavy bell crown- 
ing the summit of the Vigilantes 'headquarters, rang 
over the startled and attentive metropolis. Mer- 
chants and clerks closed their shops, draymen un- 
harnessed their horses in the streets, laborers 
and artisans hurried from their toil, the hotels 
and manufactories were emptied; members of 
the committee, hastening to headquarters, gave the 
password, were admitted, seized rifles and formed 
companies outside. All in good time, with decorum 
and gravity. In an hour the armory was sur- 
132 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

rounded by thousands of armed and disciplined 
Americans and a peremptory demand made for 
the surrender of the inmates. 

Resistance was hopeless and invited instant 
death. The armory opened its gates, those within, 
some sixty-eight, surrendered their arms, and were 
all marshaled down between ranks to headquarters 
where everyone was released except Terry, who 
was confined and strictly guarded in one of 
the cells, awaiting the outcome of the wound he 
inflicted upon Hopkins. This was the 21st of June, 
1856. He was brought before the executive com- 
mittee and the trial in its majesty and exemplary 
conduct is a marvel and example. 

Terry was accused of the stabbing of Hopkins 
and resisting officers of the committee while in the 
discharge of duty; of an attack in 1853 on Mr. 
Roadhouse, a citizen of Stockton, in the court- 
house of Stockton; of an attack on Mr. King, a 
citizen of Stockton, at the charter election of Stock- 
ton ; of resistance in 1853 of a writ of habeas corpus 
by which William Roach escaped from the custody 
of the law and the infant heirs of the Sanchez 
family were deprived of their rights; and of an 
attack in 1853 on J. H. Purdy, in the city of San 
Francisco. To all of these several charges he re- 
plied in person and by evidence. His first state- 
ment began thus: 

"It has been suggested that I should make some 
133 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

written statement in reply to the charges made 
against me by your body. 

"You doubtless feel that you are engaged in a 
praiseworthy undertaking. This question I will 
not attempt to discuss; for whilst I cannot recon- 
cile your acts with my ideas of right and justice, 
candor forces me to confess that the evils you arose 
to repress were glaring and palpable, and the end 
you seek to attain is a noble one. The question on 
which w^e differ is, as to whether the end justifies 
the means by which you have sought its accom- 
plishment ; and as this is a question on which men 
equally pure, upright and honest might differ, a 
discussion would result in nothing profitable. 

"I am aware that at times I have acted hastily. 
I am naturally of a very excitable habit, but it 
cannot be said by anyone that I ever sought 
difficulties. The specifiations speak of my violent 
and turbulent habits; and what do they prove? 
That I will promptly resent a personal affront. One 
of the first lessons I learned was to avoid giving 
insults and to allow none to be given to me. I have 
acted, and expect to continue to act, on this prin- 
ciple. I believe no man has a right to outrage 
the feelings of another or attempt to blast his good 
name, without being responsible for his actions. I 
believe if a gentleman should wound the feelings 
of anyone he should at once make a suitable repara- 
tion, either by an ample apology, or, if he feels 
134 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

that circumstances prevent this — that is, if he made 
charges that he still thinks true — should afford 
him the satisfaction he desires. 

"I know that a great many men differ with 
me, and look with a degree of horror on anyone 
entertaining such sentiments. My own experience 
has taught me that when the doctrine of personal 
responsibility obtains men are seldom insulted 
without good cause and private character is safer 
from attack; that much quarreling and bad blood 
and revengeful feeling is avoided." 

Amid the numerous witnesses who testified in 
Terry's behalf were Perley and Brooks, the former 
having been his legal associate in Stockton. Both 
these gentlemen appear later in his difficulty with 
Broderick. 

Also came judges and sheriffs from Stockton, 
and people from all over the state. Terry con- 
ducted his own defense, and the proceeding lasted 
several weeks. It must be understood that only the 
executive committee, counsel of the defense and 
prosecution, and single witnesses were present, and 
that the hearings were in the executive hall, and 
entirely secret. 

I extract this testimony from the evidence of 
E. P. Ashe, from whose apartment Hopkins was 
first ejected. "A man called Terrence Kelly came 
to see us. Terry was lying on the sofa. He said 
he had received notice to leave from the Vigilance 
135 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Committee and acknowledged that he had been in- 
strumental in giving in false election returns. He 
evidently came for protection. Judge Terry said 
to him that it was such damned rascals as he was 
that people had a right to complain of who had 
produced all this trouble and that he ought to be 
hung. Kelly left and never returned." 

The trial, which embraces seventy-five closely 
printed pages embodying the oral testimony and 
written depositions of numerous witnesses, lasted 
six weeks with this 

VERDICT 

First charge — Guilty. 

Second charge — Guilty. 

Third charge — Guilty. 

Fourth, fifth and sixth charges — Dismissed. 

JUDGMENT 

"That David S. Terry, having been convicted, 
after a full, fair and impartial trial of certain 
charges before the Committee of Vigilance and the 
usual punishments in their power to inflict not 
being applicable in the present instance, therefore, 
be it declared the decision of the Committee of 
Vigilance, that said David S. Terry be discharged 
from their custody; and also 

"Resolved, that in the opinion of the committee 
the interests of the state imperatively demand that 
the said David S. Terry should resign his position 
as Judge of the Supreme Court. 
136 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

"Resolved, that this resolution be read to David 
S. Terry, and he be forthwith discharged from the 
custody of the Committee of Vigilance on this be- 
ing ratified by the Board of Delegates. ' ' 

He did resign his position as Judge of the Su- 
preme Court three years later under other but 
equally untoward conditions. Hopkins lived, and 
was convalescent when Terry was discharged. It 
is very probable that if Hopkins had died Terry 
would have hanged. The committee were im- 
placable. 

Those opposed to the Vigilantes were styled 
"Law and Order" associates. They by no means 
desisted in their efforts, despite the overpowering 
moral and military ascendency of the committee. 

Turning from the governor as impracticable, they 
appealed to the United States naval and military 
authorities at San Francisco. General Wool de- 
clared he should intervene only upon instructions 
from Washington. A committee left directly and, 
proceeding via Panama, interviewed the President 
at the White House. The President told them that 
until called upon officially by the state authorities 
the federal government could do nothing. He 
added that the proper method of procedure would 
be for the governor to summon the legislature in 
extra session, the legislature should declare the 
state in insurrection and authorize the governor to 
levy troops and forcibly suppress all insubordina- 
137 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

tion. Then, if imsuceessful, the governor and legis- 
lature could call upon the President for relief, and 
it would be granted. 

The deputation returned to California with this 
bootless message. For the members of the legisla- 
ture, springing from the people and seeking re- 
election in the fall, were only solicitious to make 
their approval and endorsement of the Vigilantes 
decided and positive, and the governor dared not 
call them together, even if he had been so inclined, 
so that project was fruitless, and the committee 
remained resolute masters. Still, affairs progressed 
as usual. Courts met and adjourned, petty crim- 
inals were arrested, tried and judged. Over the 
state was the utmost quiet. The Vigilantes inter- 
fered with no constituted authority ; only as censors, 
like so many Catos, they serenely contemplated the 
conditions. 

From the police commissioner they took the bal- 
lot-boxes, still preserved, of the preceding elections. 
On a careful examination it was ascertained that 
the boxes had false bottoms and sides, skilfully con- 
trived. These false compartments were stuffed with 
spurious ballots before polling; when the balloting 
was ended the contents of the box would be emptied 
on the table; the secret chambers opened, and the 
fictitious ballots fell in a heap with the genuine ones 
and were counted together. It was quite easy and 

138 



THE COMMITTEE OF VIGILANCE 

simple, and its efficiency was exhibited in the elec- 
tion of Casey and his friends. 

The Vigilantes exposed this fraud to the public, 
and then nominated for the ensuing city elec- 
tion a ticket chosen by the committee and ratified by 
the Vigilantes in general, publishing the names sev- 
eral weeks in advance, and substituting other names 
when found desirable or necessary through public 
criticism. In November this ticket was elected to 
a man, and the same people and influences that 
inspired and controlled the action of the Vigi- 
lantes continued to rule San Francisco for a quar- 
ter of a century, during which it was one of the 
best-governed cities in the world. Directly after 
the election the Vigilantes held a grand review and 
then disbanded. 

On the roster were between eight and nine thou- 
sand names, and nearly the entire host paraded. 
They had existed six months and the two assassina- 
tions in the city during that period could be easily 
computed. During the same half of the previous 
year the number of men killed by violence exceeded 
a hundred! That is what the Vigilantes accom- 
plished. The reign of terror was ended and Cali- 
fornia was civilized by methods not sanctioned in 
civilization. 



139 



CHAPTER Mil 

SENATOR 

The Yigilance Committee, like the Native Ameri- 
cau party of the preceding year, does not appear 
to have seriously afifeeted Broderick or his for- 
tunes. He remained constantly and inviolably a 
Democrat, never swerving from his fealty. The 
American organization was evanescent and the 
Vigilantes confined to the city, with no special bear- 
ing on the legislatnre. The proof of this is exhib- 
ited when we find that in the November elections 
of 1S56, while the Vigilantes elected every single 
one of their nominees on the municipal ticket, all, 
or nearly all, of the successful members of the legis- 
lature from San Francisco were Broderick men. 
The Vigilantes, according to their written tenet, 
recognized no party nor creed in their councils; 
only honesty and integrity, against dishonesty and 
crime. 

It is true that formerly Broderick had the city 
government in his grasp and possessed it for years. 
It was the real foundation of his power and en- 
abled him to live while he was growing. But the 
American party victory of 1855 had shattered his 
edifice, and the Vigilantes of 1856 completely de- 
140 



SENAIOR 

molisluHl 1,Ih; sinicliu'o. lint by mow ho was re- 
garded over the state as a statesman whoso aspira- 
tions for an exalted station were known to every- 
one, and l)y virtue ol' this re(;()<j;iiiti()n Ik; was not 
('.•died n|)()n to do " loeal politics," whieh mnst 
have hecn to him an iinnHMisi; relief. 

N(!V(!rtli(^lesH, many ol' his errant followers were 
on tile proscribed list of the committee and many 
more deservcnl to be. A man wlio had ruled a city 
for y(>ars must have been compelled to use and rec- 
oj4'ni/.(i elements that were sordid and vicious; ele- 
ments that he nuist have despised, yet admitted to 
his ac(iuaintance, for one cannot control men or 
multitudes with kid gloves and platitudes. Almost 
the only delinite reference to the committee by 
Brodcrick or of Broderick is his own statement, 
made three years later, that "during Terry's incar- 
ceration by the Vigilance Committee I paid $200 
a week to support a newspaper in Terry's defense." 
Like a wise man he h^l't the turbulent g(!yser of the 
city to the calming induence of Time, that marvi^l- 
ous physician, and visited the towns, handets, camps 
and gold gorges oL" the interior, lie met and inter- 
viewed each and every individual Democratic as- 
pirant for the legislature fi-om north to south and 
from east to west, exercising all his grave and 
impressive personality to gain their suffrages. One 
of these, Rogers of Tuolumne, relates that Brod- 
erick came to see him on a rainy day and they con- 
141 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

ferred from sundown until late next morning. Rog- 
ers was obdurate ; he was pledged to both Gwin and 
Weller, but did not so declare to Broderick. On the 
contrary, he said: "I will not vote for you, for 
when the Vigilance Committee was running the 
city your friends wanted to know where you stood, 
whether for or against them, and no one knew." 
But Broderick only replied : ' ' When you come to 
San Francisco I wish you would come and see 
me." "No," said the sturdy Rogers: "I am not 
going to the city. I am going to Sacramento." 

Of course, Broderick guarded silence respecting 
the committee, for it was indeed a double-edged 
blade ; besides it was over, and what man will risk 
his political future over past questions ? The pres- 
ent problems are always sufficiently absorbing. 

Here, perhaps, I may advert to the story of 
George Willces and Broderick. Wilkes was of New 
York; a brilliant writer and bubbling Bohemian, 
but erratic and unreliable, with a peculiar repu- 
tation. He had known Broderick in New York 
and followed him to California, where he became 
one of the latter 's political associates and adju- 
tants. After a while they quarreled and Wilkes 
forthwith returned to New York. The idea or 
thought was industriously propagated that Wilkes 
was Broderick 's brains; that every wise action 
was due to the prompting of Wilkes, and every un- 
wise deed ascribed to Broderick himself. I can dis- 
142 



SENATOR 

cover no rouiuliilion for this assumption. Wilkes 
left ('iilirorni.-i in KSf)!, and certainly my rejulers 
will eoinride tliat liroderiek's career tliereal'ter in- 
dicated no abatement in cncri^'y or jiid^incnt. 
Doul)M(>ss in the earlier ('alil'ornia, years, vvIhmi a 
meager opinion, based on ij^iioranci^, pnivaihnl as 
to Broderick's mental and cdneationul accpiire- 
ments, a miseoneeption of the man existed, and it 
took time to dissipate this [)rejudice. 

General "Worthinji;ton relates that when he came 
to Calil'ornia he imbibed the common seidimcMit 
a^'ainst JU'oderiek as a shoulcUir-hittcu- and brawling 
rnflian. One of his new-made friends, Colonel Mon- 
roe, a grand nephew of President Monroe, and, of 
course, parenthetically, a federal oHicial, was a 
ch)se personal friend of Jiroderiek. 

Worthington could not comprehend an intimacy 
between the aristocratic- scion of the South and the 
knock-down and drag-out leader of the mass(^s fi'om 
New York City. On an occasion lu; and Moiu-oi; 
met several men at a hotel. Broderiek was 
one of these; Wortliington had never seen him. 
When presented mntiially, Krodcriclc's nain(; was 
pi-onouiu'.ed so indisiinctly that the g(!n(u;al tlid not 
hear. After a short conversation they separated, 
and Worthington said to Monroe: "Who was the 
remarkably aifable and int(!lligent gentleman with 
whom we have been talking?" He was amazed to 
hear that it was Broderiek. Their friendship dated 
143 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

from that moment, and when garlanded with the 
silvered radiance of eighty-four years, Worthing- 
^ ton could refer to his dead leader and the pathetic 
end only in broken accents and with humid eyes. 

The election of 1856 included three parties. The 
Presidential nominee of the nascent Kepubliean 
party was Fremont, the California path-finder and 
the first man to represent the state in the national 
senate. The American party was dying, almost as 
soon as born and, by now, was moribund, while 
the Republicans were alert and bold with the 
fervor, energy and devotion common to new re- 
ligious and new political principles. The Demo- 
crats won, as usual, but for the last time in many 
years. 

Buchanan was chosen President, and in Califor- 
nia all the state officials, as well as the legislature, 
were safely Democratic. The Vigilance Committee 
carried and held the citadel of San Francisco, but 
did not intervene in state affairs. 

An early estimate of the legislators-elect gave 
Broderick a preponderating majority of the Demo- 
crats, though not by any means of the whole legis- 
lature, for that body embraced in its membership 
Know-Nothings, Whigs and Republicans, as well as 
Democrats, the latter outnumbering all the others 
combined. 

His triumphant position was recognized to that 
degree that when he returned to the city in Novem- 
144 



SENATOR 

ber, directly after the elections, he received an ova- 
tion as if he already sat upon the throne. It was 
a gage of his ultimate success. The legislature met 
early in January, 1857. The condition and the prob- 
lem confronting Broderick and his opponents were 
these : Two senators were to be chosen. I say two 
because Gwin's seat had been untenanted since 
1855, and Weller's period of six years terminated 
in March, 1857. Therefore, the man chosen for 
Gwin's place would hold only four years, whilst 
the successor to Weller would serve six solid, long, 
important years, pregnant even then with war and 
death, with the welfare, nay, even the life of the 
great republic ; and, therefore, the six years ' prize 
was the highest reward of the tournament, and 
for it the knights prepared their lances and armor. 
Broderick found a half-dozen antagonists, each of 
them with votes, but the votes controlled by no 
one, nor even two allied forces could outnumber his 
warriors. Most of these men had remained loyal 
and faithful during the five years' campaign, 
marked with more defeats than victories, but never 
despairing and never rebellious. With the enemy 
divided and their champion in arms, they were 
buoyant, vigilant and energetic. One of them 
assumed the garb and duties of a waiter at a secret 
consultation of the allies, and thus hearing projects 
discussed, promptly divulged them to Broderick; 
only after the campaign ended did the conclave 
145 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

know who had betrayed their counsels. But Brod- 
erick had heavy political debts accruing during the 
past years of struggle, which he should liqui- 
date. Wliat with the American party success of 
'55 and the Vigilantes' triumph of '56 in San Fran- 
cisco he had been completely dislodged from that 
old haven, and his faithful retainers were wan- 
dering in the cold, cold world with not even a 
mantle of their master to protect them. He had 
never a mouthful of the federal provender, for 
his influence was local, not national. He was un- 
known in Washington, and the senators in the sad- 
dle very naturally gathered the game. The state 
administration was Know-Nothing, or American, 
and though in a condition of catalepsy, all the 
grapes were garnered and devoured by the few 
remaining members of that association. On the 
other side, however, the new national administra- 
tion was Democratic and so was Broderick. It was 
customary at the commencement of each four years 
of a presidency to replace the federal incumbents 
by friends of the new regime. So, without im- 
propriety or injustice, according to the recognized 
political tenets, one could foresee an entire and rad- 
ical change emanating from the White House, in- 
volving naval officers, appraisers, mint, revenue 
service, postmasters, treasurers and other national 
employees — enough patronage to content even his 
hungry supporters. And as very few, indeed, of the 
146 



SENATOR 

"Virginia Poor-House" collection supported him, 
Broderick could contemplate their funeral with 
equanimity. I have said it was enough for his 
people; but only if it were not divided. One is 
only one-half of two, and one-half would not be 
sufficient. He must have all. 

In demanding the resignation of the patronage 
he saw no injustice. For all the years that Grwin 
had been senator none but pro-slavery men had re- 
ceived office from his generosity. There was but a 
single exception; and of those pro-slavery men the 
greater number were Southerners. Broderick could 
now reward his friends, remember Northern Demo- 
crats, and equalize the sectional distribution of ap- 
pointments. 

He examined these various problems carefully in 
the recesses of his silent, reflective brain, for, like 
Napoleon before Marengo, he realized the value of 
his position, and finally determined to demand not 
one but all the trophies. He resolved to be elected 
as senator for the long term of six years, to choose 
his colleague for the shorter period of four years, 
and to bind this associate to surrender the patron- 
age. 

First he must be elected for the long term. It is 
true that all precedents pointed to the filling of 
Gwin's seat first, which had been vacant since 
1855, and his successor would only retain the office 
four years, for, though the term was six years, yet 
147 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

it would date, according to the statutes, from the 
expiration of Gwin's incumbency. But precedents 
were made to be broken and Broderick was already 
proficient in the art. 

With six men clamoring for the senatorship it 
would go hard, indeed, if he could not clutch the 
few votes necessary to his success. It must not be 
thought that these aspirants were not men of ' ' light 
and leading." Weller was afterwards governor; 
Latham became both governor and senator, filling 
Broderick 's post after his death; McDougall also 
ended his fitful career as senator, and Field as- 
sumed the ermine of a Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court. 

The attrition of elements from over the entire 
globe that clashed in these early years of the golden 
state threw the best and brightest upward and for- 
ward. Up to now the Broderick-Gwin feud or ven- 
detta was a misnomer. It became a stern verity 
later when the two men sat together in the Senate 
and differed on national questions ; but at this epoch 
both were fighting all comers as well as each other. 
It is quite true that all California knew Broder- 
ick 's inexorable, implacable, unyielding resolve, and 
all California knew that Gwin desired to return to 
his exalted station ; but while these two were more 
distinctive, the other men I have enumerated were 
by no means negligible quantities. I have shown 
that in the legislature of 1854 they had united with 
148 



SENATOR 

Gwin against Broderick because he was the stronger. 
Again in 1855 they coalesced with Broderick 
against Gwin, for then Gwin was more potent. 

In 1856 the Know-Nothings preponderated, and 
all these warring Democrats allied themselves like 
everlasting friends to prevent the foolish and inex- 
perienced American party virgins from taking the 
lighted lamp. And now in 1857, for the fourth 
time, the contestants assembled in the legislative 
arena. Let me also add that sectional sentiments 
controlled the situation to but a very slight degree. 

The war had not yet begun, not even in Cali- 
fornia. Events trod on, one after another, faster 
and faster, with startling celerity within the com- 
ing years, but the shadows of the veiled future 
did not disturb the Sacramento gathering. On the 
contrary, men met in the camps and mountains 
and formed durable and sympathetic friendships 
which began and culminated under the California 
sunshine until the end, regardless of political or 
personal antecedents. All that happened in the 
East was forgotten and the new amities created out 
of the rising West endured forever. Broderick 's 
principal lieutenant. Judge Frank Tilford, was a 
Kentuckian, and Randolph and Crittenden related 
to well-known Southern families, were his staunch 
partisans, while several of Gwin's most ardent sup- 
porters were Northerners. Neither Gwin nor Brod- 
erick had expressed himself as personally hostile 
149 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

or antipathetic. No one of the several aspirants 
had placed himself by ill-timed word or fruitless 
action beyond the line of negotiation or compro- 
mise, so when Broderick confronted the array he 
was free to make any combination or combinations 
as his faculties and his friends commended. 

Directly the legislature assembled a Democratic 
caucus was summoned to meet the third evening 
thereafter. Broderick 's supporters announced that 
the caucus would be asked to vote for the long term 
first and he would be a candidate for that station. 
What were the others to do? He was stronger by 
far than any single opponent. Why then incur his 
enmity, especially as he hit hard and when the sec- 
ond seat remained, even if only for four years? 
He could afford to be neutral. They could hardly 
combine on one of themselves. That would not 
quench the losers' sorrow and they would gain no 
more by that than in beating Broderick. 

Several attempts were made to win his favor for 
one or the other, notably for Latham, most of whose 
supporters were also the adherents of Broderick, 
but he very sagely held himself aloof. Why not? 
Like Miltiades at Marathon he was their second 
choice. On Thursday evening all the Democrats 
in the legislature, to the number of seventy-nine, 
met in caucus and adopted a resolution to ballot for 
the long term first. The division stood forty-two 
to thirty-seven. 

150 



SENATOR 

Broderick was immediately nominated for sen- 
ator ; this much coveted six years, his only opponent 
being Weller, who was defeated by the same vote. 
Not much, it is true; only five, but enough, as said 
Mercutio. 

The very next day, January 10, 1857, the legisla- 
ture, in joint convention assembled, elected David 
Colbert Broderick as United States senator from 
California for six years, to begin March 4th, 1857. 
The balloting stood : 

David C. Broderick 79 

J. W. Coferoth 16 

Edward Stanley 14 

L. Bynm 1 

J. B. Weller 1 

He received every Democratic vote. The official 
journal says that "the announcement of the elec- 
tion of Mr. Broderick was received with tremen- 
dous applause." 

One of the beautiful classic legends of Greece 
(I wish there were more of them) relates that three 
golden apples were taken from the triply-watched 
garden of the Hesperides. But for the combatants 
in Sacramento there existed only two, and one had 
already fallen to Broderick. Therefore, the struggle 
for the remaining golden fruit of the senatorship 
was fierce and uupausing. The town was small, 
the hotels few and in near proximity. Each cheva- 
lier had his headquarters with patrols and scouts 
151 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

to guard his own force from treachery and observe 
the movements of the enemy. Sacramento was 
overflowing with Californians drawn from the 
whole state, who came to help their favorite or to 
survej-^ the field of honor. Every motive or argu- 
ment of influence, of friendship, hate, love, auger, 
old feuds, old friendships, bitter memories and 
pleasant ones, too, were conjured, nourished, cher- 
ished and thrown in the swaying balances. We who 
float in these placid, smooth, ambitionless waters 
today find it extremely difficult to realize the fierce 
rivalry, the intensity of purpose and the sleepless 
energy of those few short days. Every motive, as 
I have said, was called into play except the vulgar, 
debasing one of money bribery. Not a single taint 
of corruption stains the escutcheons of those gentle- 
men who struggled so well and valiantly for their 
chosen chieftains. Votes were changed, but the 
reasons were well understood, and those reasons 
were honorable as well as human. The caste of 
political prostitutes was then unknown, and men 
continued free Americans. 

They charged home, brandishing lances and 
swords, but fairly, with faces to the foe. It is said 
that for five nights and days Sacramento was as 
active by night as b}' day. No one seemed to sleep. 
The Civil War was not yet begun, but the blood- 
red veil of the future had commenced to chill the 
air and cool friendships. The days to come were 
152 



SENATOR 

port<;ntous and those men, Htronj^ and self-reliant, 
were anxious to be leaders amonj^ the eleet. 

Finally they stood, panting and exhausted, con- 
fronting each other. The five days' struggle cul- 
minated in a deadlock; no one had a majority and 
only superior power and prestige, hitherto unfelt, 
could cause victory to appear. Broderick had re- 
mained aloof from the i'ruy, observing the daily and 
nightly assaults an<l parries; mofjdily biding the 
liour. 

It came, and the embattled warriors like siip- 
pliants offered him fealty. (Jive tlie senatorship, 
tfiat bauble solely, and he could have aught else, 
i'atronage, prestige, all were his. They were ready 
to accept the seat on any terms whatever that he 
should impose. lie chose Gwin. I have hitherto 
said that between Broderick and Gwin, up to their 
joint election, there was no personal or political 
antipathy. That came afterwards, and one of the 
potent reasons shall presently appear. Otherwise, 
why did he not select as his colleague some other 
candidate ? That he could have done so is manifest. 
And his choice of Gwin was, from the standpoint 
of elevated statesmanship, a judicious one. They 
represented the two extremes, political and sec- 
tional of Democracy, and, therefore, their friendship 
should allay past jealousies arising from these 
causes. 

Gwin had already served in the Senate, and his 
153 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

acquaintance and influence earnestly and sincerely 
given to Broderick should render the younger man 's 
beginnings in his new sphere more agreeable. 

Broderick at thirty-seven was the second young- 
est member of the Senate. Gwin was fifty-two. 
They held a secret conference, and at the next cau- 
cus Gwin received a majority, and the day fol- 
lowing was elected senator for four years, until 
March, 1861. On this same day, namely, the 13th 
of January, 1857, Gwin, published, over his signa- 
ture, "an address to the people of California": 

"I have thought it proper, in view of the sena- 
torial contest, which has resulted in the election of 
Mr. David C. Broderick and myself to the Senate 
of the United States, to state to the people of Cali- 
fornia certain circumstances and facts which com- 
pose a part of the history of that arduous struggle. 

"My election was attended by circumstances 
which rarely occur in the course of such contests. 
A representative, whose evil destiny it is to be the 
indirect dispenser of federal patronage, will 
strangely miscalculate if he expects to evade the 
malice of disappointed men. 

"I had learned in the struggle that he who aids 
in conferring great official power upon individuals 
does not always secure friends, and that the force 
of deep personal obligations may even be converted 
into an incentive to hostility and hate. In a word 
to the federal patronage in the state do I attribute 
154 



SENATOR 

in a great degree the malice and hostile energy, 
which, after years of faithful public service and 
toward the closing period of life, have nearly cost 
me the endorsement of a re-election to the United 
States Senate. From patronage then and the curse 
it entails I shall gladly in future turn and my sole 
labor and ambition henceforth shall be to deserve 
well of the state and to justify the course of the 
legislature in honoring me a second time as a repre- 
sentative of its interests. 

"I have hinted above at other aid than that re- 
ceived from those whom I have regarded as friends ; 
I refer to the timely assistance accorded to me by 
Mr. Broderick and his friends. 

** Although at one time a rival and recognizing 
in him a fierce but manly opponent, I do not hesi- 
tate to acknowledge in this public manner his for- 
getfulness of all grounds of dissension and hostil- 
ity, in what he considered a step necessary to allay 
the strifes and discords which had distracted the 
party and the state. To him and to the attachment 
of his friends I conceive in a great degree my elec- 
tion is due; and I feel bound to him and them in 
common efforts to unite and heal, when the result 
heretofore has been to break down and destroy. ' ' 

This clear and intelligent document made quite 

evident to the least discriminating the price Gwin 

paid for the senatorship. It was neither obscure 

nor dubious. It was addressed to the people. Two 

155 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

days previously, however, before he was elected, he 
presented to Brodrick the annexed letter. 

"Sacramento City, January 11, 1857. 

' ' Hon. D. C. Broderick, Dear Sir : I am likely to 
be the victim of the unparalleled treachery of those 
who have been placed in power by my aid and exer- 
tion. 

"The most potential portion of the federal 
patronage is in the hands of those who, by every 
principle that should govern men of honor should 
be my supporters instead of my enemies, and it is 
being used for my destruction. My participation in 
the distribution of this patronage has been the 
source of numberless slanders upon me that have 
fostered a prejudice in the public mind against me 
and have created enmities that have been destruc- 
tive to my happiness and peace of mind for years. 
It has entailed untold evils upon me, and while 
in the senate I will not recommend a single indi- 
vidual to appointment to office in the state. Pro- 
vided I am elected you shall have the exclusive 
control of this patronage, so far as I am con- 
cerned ; and in its distribution I shall only ask that 
it may be used with magnanimity and not for the 
advantage of those who have been our mutual ene- 
mies and unwearied in their efforts to destroy us. 

' ' This determination is unalterable ; and in mak- 
ing this declaration I do not expect you to support 
me for that reason, or in any way to be governed 
156 



SENATOR 

by it; but as I have been betrayed by those who 
should have been my friends, I am in a measure 
powerless myself and depend upon your magna- 
nimity, 

''Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Wm. M. Gwin." 

The existence and contents of this "scarlet" let- 
ter Broderick never divulged, though at times he 
had rare provocation, for two years and a half. A 
month later he was slain ! 

On his return as a senator to San Francisco 
he was received like a triumphing Roman. Pro- 
cessions, addresses, illuminations, the roar of 
ordnance and the whole town to acclaim. In sev- 
eral of the interior cities, as in Benicia, special 
entertainments were presented. It should have 
been soothing to his perturbed spirit, for it was 
generous and spontaneous. Those who had op- 
posed him most strenuously during the years chival- 
rously said : ' ' He has won fairly and manfully in 
fair fighting, and he deserves his success." 

But Broderick was not unduly elated. He re- 
ceived the plaudits with dignity and in silence. 
Now that he sat in the chariot of the sun, would 
he prove able to guide its course among the stars? 
After winning life 's goal, there be disappointments 
ever and oft. The stimulus of seeking is more soul- 
stirring than the pleasure of possessing. 



157 



CHAPTER IX 

WASHINGTON 

The two senators departed from California to- 
gether, going by steamer, via the Isthmus route, 
which was relatively speedy and more comfortable, 
the voyage to New York occupying somewhat less 
than a month. Gwin continued on to Washington, 
while his brother senator remained in New York 
for a few short days. The latter 's former friends, 
personal and political, welcomed his advent with 
warm demonstrations. The distinction he had 
achieved and the redemption of the assurance an- 
nounced on his departure eight years previously 
that he would never return "except as United 
States senator from California" were recalled and 
recognized. 

He was cordially and heartily greeted. The mu- 
nicipal authorities adopted resolutions welcoming 
him to New York and he was the guest at several 
banquets where were gathered the city's best. The 
New Yorkers seemed to regard him as one of them 
and his success a personal triumph. Yet, in pe- 
rusing their encomiums one cannot discern a very 
strong note of surprise. One might say that it 
158 



WASHINGTON 

was expected ; so strong a sense of his personal abil- 
ity and energy had he inspired. 

His New York friends seemed to think he would 
move farther and higher. But he hastened from 
these vanities, as he had from home tributes, and 
journeyed to Washington, where his new life would 
have its inception. Here he was presently to know 
how void and futile become written promises when 
the will to execute them is wanting and how much 
larger were national than state issues. 

Congress assembled in March and, in accord 
with the senate's unwritten mandate, he found 
himself condemned to silence in that chamber for 
the entire session. He was received, however, with 
more attention than was usually tendered to a new 
senator, and one so young. 

His indomitable struggle and final success had 
been observed and heralded in the East and South. 
Everything transpiring in that far California, near 
the dying sun, was of more than fleeting interest to 
the older commonwealths. The rumor that he had 
dictated the election of his colleague and brought 
him "to Washington in chains" was piquant and 
fruitful of comment. Especially the few Repub- 
lican senators who represented the beginnings of 
that patriotic organization took him to their hearts. 
They had been Democrats or Whigs before aposta- 
sising. This young man of serious demeanor and 
plebeian Northern stock had a future, and in the 
159 



r) 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

portentous events that the wise felt impending, 
what might he not do, perhaps at their side ? Wil- 
son was a shoemaker ; Johnson a tailor. Both were 
then senators and one subsequently became Vice- 
president and the other President of the United 
States. Still, these were the rare, unique excep- 
tions. No one except of superlative birth and 
breeding, was considered eligible. We have changed 
all that, let us hope, for the better. 

Broderick was the first senator sprung from the 
masses, far more distinctly so than Johnson and 
Wilson, and his personality was infinitely more 
commanding. If it be asked why then did they 
advance higher, I will reply that they lived, but 
he died. 

He was born in the capital and the Washing- 
tonians celebrated the coming of "their senator" 
with Roman freedom. I am not aware that they 
have since had an opportunity to repeat the fes- 
tival. But Gwin had friends, sage and astute 
friends, who had moved in the changing political 
currents of the nation's capital for years, and who, 
above all, were known to the President. Broder- 
ick 's reception by Buchanan was not cordial; as he 
said after his first visit: "It was cold without, 
but icy within." The polished old bachelor, who 
preferred knee buckles to breeches and a powdered 
wig to nature's covering, was not impelled toward 
the stern, haughty young senator, who, with West- 
160 



WASHINGTON 

ern brusqueness demanded, rather than requested, 
presidential favors. 

It was rumored and believed, both in California 
and Washington that Broderiek had promised more 
persons than there were positions. The names of 
three individuals who had been assured by him of 
succession to the same office, were uttered aloud so 
that all could hear. Yet only one could win. 
Doubtless it was true. He may have followed the 
precept of Euripides : 

Be just; unless a kingdom tempts, to break the laws, 
For Sovereign power alone can justify the cause. 

When next Broderiek visited the White House 
and suggested a certain appointment he was told 
by the President that it would be made provided 
the senator would submit the application, in writ- 
ing, with his signature. Broderiek asked if this 
had hitherto been the rule. Buchanan said it had 
never been practiced by any of his predecessors, but 
he chose to establish the innovation for his own 
protection and the service of the state. He added 
that Broderiek was the first man of whom he asked 
this pledge, but that, of course, it would be ap- 
plicable to every member of congress. Broderiek left 
the White House in anger and fury. He saw too 
clearly the whence and why this unparalleled stain 
on the word of representatives of the nation, and 
recognized the source which had inspired the docile 
brain of America 's chief. To checkmate him, Gwin 
161 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

and his friends had invoked a radical alteration of 
the customs and courtesies existing between Presi- 
dent and Congress since the foundation of the 
republic ! 

This condition, as then instituted, remains unal- 
tered, and is just and equitable ; but it first sprang 
from the fertile brain of Broderick's enemies. He 
repaired to the White House again and again, but 
was met by the placid obstinacy of the President. 

There was a legend current, which may be apoc- 
ryphal, that after leaving the President on his last 
visit Broderick stood on the steps of the White 
House enclosure, facing Lafayette Park, and de- 
nounced Buchanan in language more picturesque 
than polite. Like his friend. Judge Field, he pos- 
sessed a superlative vocabulary of adjectival exple- 
tives. He never again entered the portals of the 
executive mansion, and he never again asked a 
favor of the President. The latter made his Cali- 
fornia appointments leisurely and with deliberation. 
Scarce a single one of the federal horde could be 
considered other than an opponent of Broderick. 
In fact, Buchanan out-Gwinned Gwin and displayed 
personal animosity to the junior California senator 
most conspicuously. 

Broderick stayed in Washington only a few days 

and hastened home to engage in the nominations 

and elections during the summer and fall. The 

convention was organized against him. The nomi- 

162 



WASHINGTON 

nees were his foes, with the solitary exception of 
Supreme Judge Field, and Broderick had but this 
single success to lessen his chagrin. 

Field was sworn as Judge of the Supreme Court 
of the state of California on January 1, 1858. 
Judge Terry had become chief justice a few months 
earlier, succeeding on the death of the previous 
incumbent. Field and Terry thus sat side by side on 
the Supreme Bench, the latter as presiding judge. 
It is proper to align this statement clearly, for it 
tells us that the two men knew each other very 
well, indeed. They were not strangers when they 
met and clashed years after, and the knowledge of 
each other's characteristics must have qualified their 
actions. 

The rupture of Broderick with the President was 
not yet fully known in California nor its gravity 
appreciated. Those of his supporters who had an- 
ticipated official rewards looked at his empty hands 
with equanimity and made little complaint, much 
less, perhaps, than they might have been justified 
in doing. 

After all, there did not appear to be so much self- 
ishness as one might have expected. The men who 
had fought his battles and carried him to success 
were cheerful and contented. He was senator, and 
they waited to see his wings spread like others in 
the national halls. He was senator, and they had 
won ; as for the rest, it did not matter much. Cali- 
163 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

fornia was gentle, gracious, lovely, abounding, and 
there were many other avocations besides playing 
gentleman in federal boudoirs. A philosophic for- 
titude under disappointment is not difficult, when 
the disappointment is easily compensated. 

For the rest Broderick remained very quiet, at- 
tending to his personal interests that had been ne- 
glected during his engrossing political campaigns. 
He was indebted quite largely, and most of the 
water lots that he possessed and which were his 
main holdings were unimproved. He filled some, 
sold a few, and built on others. They had been 
chosen with rare judgment and were rapidly in- 
creasing in value, as the city extended eastward into 
the bay. The shallow mud flats were filled with 
sand, wooden piles driven deep down to a firm 
foundation, heavy planks fastened to the piles, and 
on this superstructure strong brick edifices were 
constructed. Streets led into the waters, and the 
quays advanced fully a quarter of a mile from the 
westerly point of debarkation in the record year of 
1849. 

All this promised to inake him a wealthy man. 
The remarkable purity of his life and the sim- 
plicity of his wants made his personal- expenses 
quite limited. He applied himself severely to a 
careful reading of instructive works. He was fond 
of poetry and the contemplative Shelley was his 
favorite. He had a private, secluded apartment, 
164 



WASHINGTON 

where night after night, he studied like a school 
boy. Washington had taught him his deficiencies. 
But he contributed largely to political require- 
ments and assisted his friends, when asked, which 
was infrequently. Independence and self-reliance 
characterized the young men who made the Cali- 
fornia of the fifties. "Old Gwin" was the uni- 
versal appellation of Senator Gwin, and yet he 
was only fifty-two when elected as Broderick's col- 
league, and he had been distinguished since the 
state was born. The average age of the arrivals in 
1849, when the immigration exceeded that of any 
preceding or subsequent year, was twenty-five years, 
and 1857 was only eight years later. The state was 
settling fast. The human tide that flowed in 1848, 
upon the gold discovery, had not yet ebbed. 
Nearly every steamer from Panama brought a full 
complement of passengers and others came in dif- 
ferent ways over seas and over lands. At first they 
came alone, but now they brought families, women, 
children and other relatives, who came to abide. 
The fallacy that California was arid, barren, and 
only good for gold had vanished. Cereals were 
largely cultivated the production of fruits and wines 
increased, and their quality improved. The sweet- 
ness and softness of summer life, under the slopes 
of the Sierras, with atmosphere anointed by the 
balsam from the pines, enthralled and fascinated. 
Cabins were substituted for tents, houses for 
165 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

cabins, and towns for camps. Churches and school- 
houses appeared. The red shirt and top boots dis- 
appeared ; people apparelled themselves as in other 
parts of the world, and the custom of '*a man for 
breakfast" was abolished. The Vigilance Commit- 
tee in San Francisco not alone cleansed that city, 
but distributed its moral medicines over the entire 
state. Crimes diminished markedly, and every- 
where the Vigilance Committees serenely slum- 
bered. The terrible remedy has never again been 
invoked, showing how well it slew the dragon then 
rampant — ^today an indistinct memory. 

Only a single episode stands forth in the cam- 
paign. In replying to a political communication, 
Broderick observes, ''I challenge my enemies to 
produce a man within the length and breadth of 
the state whom I ever deceived or to whom I ever 
falsified my word." A strong asseveration which 
would hardly issue from one who had reason to ap- 
prehend the result. But in the same statement 
he added that there were no conditions whatever be- 
tween Gwin and himself respecting the federal pat- 
ronage. Which was untrue as well as sacrificing 
of self, for one whose bond he held and who had 
outwitted him at Washington. Evidently he did 
not seek a rupture and was willing to shield Gwin. 

He returned to Washington by Panama and was 
in his seat when the thirty-fifth Congress assem- 
bled in December, 1857. He had stepped from the 
166 



WASHINGTON 

rear to the front, from a local to a national theatre, 
from Sacramento to Washington. Grave and dan- 
gerous problems agitated the country. Abraham 
Lincoln, a man of his own type, was rising in Illi- 
nois and preparing for the contest with Douglas 
in the ensuing year. The ferment among people 
was shattering the old aristocracy and sending men 
from the ranks to become leaders. 

A revolutionary spirit pervaded the land. The 
political issues were momentous. The depreciation 
of state-bank currency rendered indispensable a 
change in the monetary system. The building of 
a railway to connect the Atlantic coast with the 
Pacific slope was imperative. Statutes to pre- 
serve public lands and secure homesteads for actual 
settlers were demanded. There was open rebellion 
in Utah and the situation in Kansas bordered on 
civil war. The Dred Scott decision lately promul- 
gated by the United States Supreme Court had been 
extensively circulated throughout the nation with 
bitter comments, denouncing it as the unrighteous 
judgment of a partisan tribunal. 

President Buchanan referred in his message to 
these subjects and made certain observations on 
the Kansas question which at once caused an ani- 
mated controversy, continuing throughout the ses- 
sion. The territorial legislature of Kansas in Feb- 
ruary, 1857, passed an act providing for the elec- 
tion of delegates in June of the same year to a 
167 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

convention to meet in the following September and 
frame the state constitution. 

But the legislature wittingly omitted in this 
act to provide for the submission by the convention 
to the people for ratification of any instrument 
adopted or adapted as a constitution by them. 
When the convention chosen in pursuance of this 
provision assembled in September at Lecompton, 
Kansas, it framed a state constitution. 

One article of this instrument provided that only 
that portion of the document which embraced the 
question as to whether the new state should be ad- 
mitted to the Union "with or without slavery" 
should be referred to the populace for rejection or 
ratification. A second article largely nullified in 
advance whatever decision might be given by the 
people by inserting in a schedule the provision that 
the rights of property in slaves already within the 
confines of the territory should be recognized. 

This nullifying clause and the failure to refer 
the entire constitution instead of one or two quali- 
fying sections to the people for their action, added 
to the lack of authority in the legislature to call 
the convention which framed the constitution, 
caused Stephen A. Douglas intense chagrin and 
disappointment. 

Douglas was the leader of the national Democ- 
racy and had been the principal opponent of Bu- 
168 



WASHINGTON 

ehanan for the presidential nomination in the last 
national Democratic convention. 

Not then a pronounced anti-slavery advocate, he 
resolved to oppose the admission of Kansas with 
that constitution. It was difficult for Northern 
Democrats, whose life-long political associates from 
the South had dwelt with them in complete con- 
cord, to sever the ancient ties without regret ^.nd 
with reluctance. 

To Broderick it came easier. A New York City 
man by training, though a native of Washington, 
he had the natural objection of those who had 
worked for a living to the existence of servile labor, 
and he objected still more to contemplate the 
exigency of toiling side by side with black men, 
themselves slaves. He remembered that on the 
same question the miners in 1849, coming from 
all quarters of the globe, sent up from the gold- 
fields a resonant shout, "No slaves nor fugitive la- 
bor in California!" He remembered also that 
Gwin, then a member of the California Constitu- 
tional Convention, had silently bowed his head to 
this insistent roar and uttered no objection. And 
now this same Gwin was advocating slavery in a 
new state, applying for admission into the Union 
under conditions precisely analogous to those that 
obtained in California nine years earlier. It was 
true that he was then only an unknown member 
of the convention, while now he represented his 
169 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

state in the Senate. The one was local, the other 
national. Gwin and Bro"derick were not so far 
apart in ideals. Broderiek told Sickles in 1849, 
when leaving New York for that unknown land 
whose strands were laved by the waters of the 
Pacific, "I will never return unless as United 
States senator." Gwin also when departing from 
Washington for the Land of Hope the same year, 
said to Douglas, "I will be back in a year as sena- 
tor. ' ' Both succeeded, Gwin having won within his 
year. Gwin but followed where his people led. He 
was not a prophet, only a devotee. 

It was as natural for Broderiek to oppose slavery 
as to breathe. For he breathed the air of freedom. 
At this period few foresaw the future ; certainly not 
the Northern element. Neither did Broderiek; 
but his resolute, undaunted character refused com- 
pliance and repelled seduction. He therefore al- 
lied himself at once with Douglas, the two with 
one other, Stuart from Michigan, forming the 
Democratic trio of senators who originated the war 
upon slavery. In December he pronounced his 
first discourse in the Senate. He opposed the 
Lecompton constitution and boldly confronted the 
President and the Democratic majority of the Sen- 
ate, He severely criticised Buchanan for insist- 
ing that the sovereign people of Kansas should 
accept the decision of a convention clearly unauthor- 
ized by any valid law, and no less emphatically 
170 



WASHINGTON 

condemned the convention itself. It is interesting 
to peruse a fragment of this address: 

"As I am the only senator, I believe, on this side 
of the house who feels disposed with the senator 
from Illinois and the senator from Michigan to 
oppose the Lecompton constitution, I should like 
before the adjournment of the Senate today to be 
heard for a very few minutes on this question. 

"It is the first time that a President of the 
United States ever stepped down from the exalted 
position he held and attempted to coerce the people 
into a base submission to the will of an illegal body 
of men. 

"I am very sorry that I am placed in the un- 
fortunate position of disagreeing with my party 
on this question, for I believe that I rendered as 
much service in my way in the election of Mr. Bu- 
chanan as any gentleman on this floor. He was my 
choice before the convention at Chicago met. I 
considered him the most available and most con- 
servative candidate that could be presented to the 
American people for election to the presidency, 
and for that reason I supported him. I regret very 
much that I am compelled to differ with him on 
this question ; but, sir, I intend to hold him respon- 
sible for it. 

"I do not intend because I am a member of the 
Democratic party to permit the President of the 
United States, who has been elected by that party 
171 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

to create civil war in the United States. The only 
thing that has astonished me in this whole matter 
is the forbearance of the people of Kansas. If 
they had taken the delegates to the Lecompton 
convention and flogged them, or cut their ears off, 
and driven 1;hem out of the country, I would have 
applauded them for the act. I have spoken for the 
purpose of placing myself right upon this ques- 
tion. 

"I feel embarrassed, very much embarrassed, in 
doing so, because this is the first time I have ever 
attempted to address the Senate of the United 
States." 

From its lack of symmetry it is very clear that 
he did not carefully prepare this speech, but 
it evinces his forthright frankness and detestation, 
almost contempt for the President. He did not 
expect or apparently desire a reconciliation. Sev- 
eral weeks later, when the same envenomed subject 
was again discussed in the Senate, he was quite 
conspicuous in making motions and short speeches. 
For awhile he seems to have been in complete 
charge of the business on the part of the minority, 
especially including filibustering tactics, which 
suited the present purpose of his faction. 

Again in March he delivered a set address, evin- 
cing careful study and reflection. He gave a clear, 
connected, Attic description of slavery enactments 
of the congress from the Missouri Compromise 
172 



WASHINGTON 

in 1820, citing copiously from the utterances of 
eminent champions on either side, up to the meas- 
ure then under debate. I shall quote only briefly. 
Speaking of slavery and of the intent of the bill 
to give the territories an option on slavery, he 
said : ' ' How foolish for the South to hope to con- 
tend with success in such an encounter. Slavery 
is old, decrepit and consumptive ; freedom is young, 
strong and vigorous. The one is naturally station- 
ary and loves ease; the other is migrating and en- 
terprising." It would be difficult even now, fifty 
years after the event, to phrase the conditions 
more accurately. Continuing, he said : 

' ' They say cotton is king ! No, sir, gold is king. 
I represent a state where labor is honorable ; where 
the judge has left his bench, the lawyer and doctor 
their offices, and the clergyman his pulpit, for the 
purpose of delving in the earth; where no station 
is so high and no position so great that its occupant 
is not proud to boast that he labored with his own 
hands. There is no state in the Union, no place 
on earth, where labor is so honored and so well 
rewarded ; no time and no place since the Almighty 
doomed the sons of Adam to toil, where the curse, 
if it be a curse, rests so lightly as now on the people 
of California." 

A Southern senator had stigmatized Northern 
laborers as "mudsills," an expression that was the 
ultimate cause of more injury to their doctrines 
173 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

than fifty regiments of federal troops, for it an- 
gered and solidified the Northern masses. 

Broderick quoted this previous observation and 
continued: 'T suppose the senator from South 
Carolina did not intend to be personal in his re- 
marks to any of his peers upon the floor. If I had 
thought so I would have noticed them at the time. 
I am, sir, with one exception, the youngest in years 
of the senators upon this floor. It is not long since 
I served an apprenticeship of five years at one of 
the most laborious trades pursued by man, a trade 
that from its nature devotes its followers to 
thought, but debars him from conversation. I 
would not have alluded to this if it were not for 
the remarks of the senator from South Carolina, 
and that thousands who know that I am the son 
of an artisan and have been a mechanic would feel 
disappointed in me if I did not reply to him. 
I am not proud of this. I am sorry it is true. I 
would that I could have enjoyed the pleasures of 
life in my boyhood days, but they were denied to 
me. I say this with pain. I have not the admira- 
tion for the men of that class from whence I 
sprang that might be expected; they submit too 
tamely to oppression, and are too prone to neglect 
their rights and duties as citizens. But, sir, the 
class of society to whose toil I was born, under our 
form of government, will control the destinies of 
this nation. If I were inclined to forget my con- 
174 



WASHINGTON 

nection with them, or to deny that I sprang from 
them, this chamber would not be the place in which 
I could do either. While I hold a seat here, I have 
but to look at the beautiful capitals adorning the 
pilasters that support the roof to be reminded of 
my father's talent and handiwork. 

"I left the scenes of my youth and manhood 
for the far West because I was tired of the 
struggles and the jealousies of men of my class, 
who could not understand why one of their fellows 
should seek to elevate his position above the com- 
mon level. I made my new abode among strang- 
ers, where labor is honored. I had left without 
regret. There remained no tie of blood to bind 
me to any being in existence. If I fell in the 
struggle for reputation and fortune there was no 
relative on earth to mourn my fall. 

"The people of California elevated me to the 
highest oflSce within their gift. My election was 
not the result of an accident. For years I had to 
struggle, often seeing the goal of my ambition with- 
in my reach ; it was again and again taken from me 
by men of my own class. I had not only them 
to contend with, but almost the entire partisan 
press of my state was subsidized by government 
money and patronage to oppose my election. I 
sincerely hope, sir, the time will come when such 
speeches as that from the senator from South Caro- 
lina will be considered a lesson to the laborers of the 
175 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

nation. ' ' He concluded in these words : "I hope 
in mercy, sir, to the boasted intelligence of this 
age, the historian, when writing a history of these 
times, will ascribe this attempt of the Executive 
to force this constitution upon an unwilling people 
to the fading intellect, the petulant passion and 
trembling dotage of an old man on the verge of 
the grave." 

This speech made Broderick a marked man. It 
was published in full by several potent Eastern 
journals and by part of the California press. The 
allusion by the son, standing erect among his 
brother senators in the stately hall, to his father's 
genius exhibited aloft on the carven entablature, 
created sympathetic admiration, and the declara- 
tion that no kindred blood flowed in the veins of 
any living being caused a sentiment of kindly re- 
spect for this lonely figure from the Pacific shores. 

The words in which he refers to Buchanan so 
contumeliously were the first public expression of 
his opinions. Several writers have stated that 
Broderick denounced the President a year .previous 
but that is an error. He guarded silence in the 
Senate as custom ordains during the first session 
in March, 1857, and in fact remained only about 
six weeks in "Washington on that occasion. In De- 
cember, 1857, he censured the Executive for his 
course in the Lecompton issue, but only now, in 
March, 1858, a year after his accession, did he an- 
176 



WASHINGTON 

nounce their relations in these bitter phrases. Brod- 
erick had ample provocation long before, as far as 
patronage was in question, for it is not in evidence 
that Buchanan gave him a single appointment 
nor is it in evidence that he asked for a single 
one. Nevertheless, with true dignity, he felt that 
to embroil himself with party and President for 
a few trifling offices would neither be judicious 
nor creditable, and when he did make the issue it 
was on a grave and national question from which 
he could not recede, and wherein his decision 
gained him the plaudits of the entire North. Even 
toward GavIu, who was placidly fattening on the 
official provender that he had filched, I can dis- 
cover no expression of rancor nor resentment. All 
through this session, when Broderick alludes to his 
colleague, it is pleasantly and with decorum. In- 
deed, most of his allusions refer to Gwin as absent 
when measures affecting their state were under 
discussion. The latter was not very assiduous, 
while Broderick never missed a session nor a com- 
mittee meeting. Gwin rather carped at Broder- 
ick 's oratorical accomplishments, while the latter 
retorted that whenever the former commenced to 
read one of his dreary exhortations, the chamber 
was deserted by all save the speaker, Broderick and 
one more senator. Broderick remained through 
courtesy and the other man through pity. I must 
again destroy the fallacy that George Wilkes wrote 
177 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

this speech or any other speech for Broderick, or 
that he was either his Mentor or his Mephistopheles. 
Can anyone for a moment surmise that Wilkes 
wrote that simple passage about his father, or that 
solemn statement of his loneliness amid countless 
millions ? The lack of polish and rhetoric are mani- 
fest in all Broderick 's public utterances, which 
Wilkes would not have omitted; but the sincerity, 
earnestness and clear, direct statement belong to the 
man, and the worldly Wilkes could not have evolved 
them. This Wilkes cult was formulated by a writer 
not overly just to Broderick and adopted by sub- 
sequent historians without sufficient investigation. 
Those who read with me do not require the convic- 
tion that if ever there was a bold, self-reliant, ven- 
turesome man, it was Broderick; one of those who 
do not need nor seek advice or inspiration. What 
such men really lack is not one to guide their foot- 
steps, but to keep them still. They want not so 
much propulsion as a brake. 

In this work I have endeavored to seek original 
sources of information. I have accepted no state- 
ment, even if printed, without cognate and com- 
petent authority. I am writing history, not ro- 
mance nor fiction. I have not read a single volume 
treating of these troublous times that does not dis- 
play bias and imperfect knowledge. For the reason 
that they were written either by participants, 
spectators or contemporaries. History, be it said, 
178 




^^-^-^-^^^^ 



WASHINGTON 

however strange, is best written after all the actors 
are dead. 

The project of a railway between the two oceans 
was conceived at an early epoch, and many bills 
in relation thereto were presented to Congress. At 
this session several distinct routes were proposed 
and Broderick energetically advocated the 41st 
parallel as the best and most central location. 
There were others who advocated more northerly 
and southerly lines and no decision was reached. 

In one day, by his promptness of action, he 
secured the consideration and passage of three 
important measures affecting California. 

Because of the increased cost of living in early 
California days, the federal officials were allowed 
larger salaries than in other states. Broderick con- 
tended that household expenses had decreased to a 
normal condition and therefore the government 
should lessen its payments. 

Inasmuch as no one of the officials were his 
appointees or friends, that was a labor of love 
as well as economy, and he was vigilant in examin- 
ing appropriation and deficiency bills. There was 
no gainsaying this position, and he relentlessly 
decimated the perquisites of Gwin's adherents 
without much difficulty, for the latter frequented 
the Senate but seldom. 

The wits of Congress might have said, follow- 
179 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

ing those of Rome, that the name of one California 
senator was David and the other Broderick. 

Nevertheless, at a certain sitting, Gwin was de- 
cidedly present, for he presented to the Senate 
resolutions of the California legislature instructing 
their two senators to vote for the Lecompton con- 
stitution. The resolutions were read, and Broder- 
ick immediately said that "the resolutions intro- 
duced by my colleague will have no influence upon 
my action here, now, or in the future. I am satis- 
fied that four-fifths of the people of California re- 
pudiate the Lecompton fraud. 

'*I shall respect the wishes of the people and 
pay no respect to the resolutions passed by a legis- 
lature not representing the opinions of the people 
of California. I merely say this now for the pur- 
pose of placing myself on the record." Of course 
this was not the legislature that elected Gwin and 
himself, but a new body. 

Fremont, the first senator from California, who 
had been the year before the first nominee for the 
presidency of the newly created Republican party, 
had presented to Congress claims for services while 
engaged in the Mexican War. Some moneys had 
been paid Fremont, but for the moiety he had been 
vainly pleading session after session. It illus- 
trates the tendency of Broderick 's political 
views to learn that, with his usual diligence and 
earnestness, he advocated a settlement and payment 
to this Republican, and finally succeeded. 
180 



CHAPTER X 

DISSENSION 

After the adjournment in June, 1858, Broderick 
returned directly home. He found that his repu- 
tation had increased and so had the number of his 
enemies. 

The rupture with the administration was pal- 
pable and his anti-slavery sympathies were equally 
clear. Californians were inclined to think him 
premature and precipitate. Even the Northerners 
doubted the justice of his positive declarations, 
and as for his Southern friends, their numbers had 
diminished. 

The first sound or sight of war is on the firing 
line, and Broderick in Congress saw farther than 
the inhabitants of distant California. Unable to 
reward his friends, censured by those whose judg- 
ment he valued, and compelled to differ with an or- 
ganization to which he had been always loyal and 
devoted, his position was excessively difficult and 
disagreeable. He could not proclaim what he 
feared and foresaw, for no one would credit him. 
To one friend, and this man a Eepublican, he con- 
fided his belief that "the Southerners would stop 
at nothing, even to the disruption of the Union." 
181 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

This statement was expressed three years before 
the war. Not many Northern men possessed the 
same prescience. 

Broderick kept his soul in patience, attended to 
his private affairs, which were prosperous, quali- 
fied for the bar and, after a detention of only three 
months, left for Washington. 

But, prior to his departure, there occurred in 
August of the same year one of those events that 
are never forgotten, but which, on the contrary, 
recall themselves, accompanying distrust and fore- 
boding. 

W. I. Ferguson, from Pennsylvania and Illinois, 
was a member of the California Senate, represent- 
ing Sacramento. He served in the legislature for 
several years, beginning like Baker as a member 
of the Native American party, and subsequently 
reverting again to the Democracy. He voted for 
Broderick at his election and was the intermediary 
who arranged the midnight interview between 
Gwin and Broderick on the evening preceding the 
former's selection by the caucus. To Ferguson had 
been confided the custody of the personal letter 
from Gwin to Broderick renouncing all claim to 
patronage, which was the price of Gwin 's elevation. 
The secret of this document's existence and the 
identity of its possessor must have been known to 
but very few. It carried death amid its pages. 

During the Congressional session of 1858, as I 
182 



DISSENSION 

have already indicated, Broderiek's position with 
reference to party and President had been clearly 
defined. Ferguson, a brilliant young attorney 
with Northern antecedents and predilections, came 
to the aid of Broderick and Douglas. In an elo- 
quent and effective harangue he declared his faith 
in and conversion to their doctrines, and bitterly 
condemned Buchanan. The address delivered in 
the state Senate made Ferguson a marked man. 

At San Francisco a few months afterwards, 
he became involved in a trivial political dis- 
pute with a Southern gentleman, who promptly 
challenged him. Ferguson was shot in the duel 
that ensued and died after suffering the torture 
of having a leg amputated. It was a warning to 
Broderick, Baker and other Northern men. Events 
were hastening. The national differences were 
leavening California, and the leaders of the North 
were being struck down. This is what Baker said 
in his eulogy on Ferguson — the same immortal 
Baker who, a year later, delivered the pane- 
gyric over a more illustrious victim: "He stood 
four fires at a distance of scarcely twenty feet 
with a conviction that there was a strong de- 
termination to take his life — that the matter 
should be carried to extremity — and that, too, when 
until the day before, he had never fired a pistol in 
his life." Ferguson's successful antagonist was a 
practised duellist. The night following Ferguson's 
183 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

death his office desk was found broken open and the 
contents scattered. 

Broderick averred the next year, when canvassing 
the state, that Ferguson's desk was rifled with the 
hope of securing possession of the "scarlet letter," 
and added that Ferguson, onhis death-bed, intrusted 
the letter to General Estill, who kept it in secrecy 
until restored to Broderick. This was the second 
Northern statesman killed in a duel with a South- 
erner. There was a sentiment that it was too much 
like skill against ignorance, practical training 
against its absence. It was fate that the element 
of equality was lacking. The civilian is no fair 
match for the soldier when the former has not 
been trained to the use of arms; nor, although his 
courage is high and he may have a profound con- 
viction that he is right, will the contest be there- 
fore equal and just. 

To inaugurate and test the first line of coaches 
from the Pacific, Broderick journeyed by land to 
St. Joseph, Missouri, at that time the railway's 
western terminal. A boat-load of faithful friends 
accompanied him to Benicia where he took stage 
for the East, after a banquet, reception, addresses 
and salutes. After all he was California's senator 
and typically represented the state. 

It shows how his fame was enlarging to read that 
the mayor and common council, of Salt Lake City 
waited upon and tendered him its hospitality. He 
184 



DISSENSION 

was assigned special apartments and visited by 
many distinguished citizens, including Brigham 
Young and other Mormon church dignitaries. He 
was told that he was the only man from the West 
in whom they trusted and he was implored to aid 
and protect the people and territory of Utah, and to 
act as their friend and representative in Congress. 
The journey to St. Joseph by stage coach took 
forty-seven days including a stay of a week in Salt 
Lake. Going down a steep mountain grade the 
vehicle upset, fracturing one of Broderick's ribs, 
and he arrived with frost-bitten feet and generally 
debilitated. In those early staging days across the 
plains, people did not know how to guard against 
the asperities of the weather and Broderick nearly 
became a victim to inexperience. Still he assisted 
to open this great overland thoroughfare, the suc- 
cess of which was of importance to California's de- 
velopment, and, partially recovered, was present in 
Washington at the December overture of Con- 
gress. 

When the committees were announced he dis- 
covered that his name had been dropped from 
the important Committee on Public Lands, of 
which he had been a member since his accession. 

This was done because he was known to strongly 
favor a Pacific railway. The Southern element, 
who controlled Congress and the President, was 
185 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

indisposed to such a project, if not, indeed, posi- 
tively hostile. 

While the Southerners hoped in the conflict 
which they kaew was inevitable — to retain Califor- 
nia as a slave state — still the railway's Eastern 
terminus would be among the Western middle 
states, which were free soil; hence they preferred 
that there should be no road. Moreover, as devel- 
oped during the discussion, they wished any pro- 
jected route to be South of parallel 36° 30' — that 
line being the accepted division between slavery 
and freedom in the extreme Western states and ter- 
ritories. The Northern advocates, however, de- 
manded the forty-first parallel or neighboring 
degrees. The more southerly line would be through 
Texas and touch California at its extreme south- 
eastern point. From there San Francisco was 
hundreds of miles distant. If the government ren- 
dered assistance it was contemplated to the state 
line only, so this southern railway would have to 
be extended north for 500 miles to San Francisco 
without federal subsidies. All these various pro- 
jected railways are now completed, but it was very 
different fifty years past. For this 36° 30' meant, 
if completed, a railway within Southern lines. If 
not constructed, so much the better; and the more 
obstructions the less possibility. 

Broderick had studied existing conditions care- 
fully. He had made the arduous and fatiguing 
186 



DISSENSION 

stage journey of forty days to familiarize himself 
with the country. Therefore, to minimize his 
influence he was deprived of a place on this com- 
mittee, although California was most vitally inter- 
ested and he himself, perhaps, the best informed 
man in Congress on this absorbing question of a 
railway from ocean to ocean. 

But the statesmen who represented the South did 
not do things by halves. Gwin introduced a rail- 
way measure early in the session, read a two hours' 
lecture to the Senate, and then — no more. 

His bill designated the line of 36° 30'. He rarely 
attended the earnest and intelligent as well as 
numerous debates. Broderick complains more than 
once that his colleague's absence left him without 
assistance. Indeed, on the approach of the final 
vote, he directly asked Gwin if he was in favor 
of the measure that he had himself presented, and 
the latter did not reply. The pity of it was that 
Gwin sacrificed his state to his Southern friends 
and affiliations. Not that he loved California less, 
but he loved the South more. The measure finally 
passed the Senate with no special parallel indi- 
cated, and perished in the House. 

The legislature elected in California this year 
was anti-Broderick. The state and federal powers 
were in perfect and consistent alignment against 
him. Every state and federal officeholder was his 
foe, and his friends did not realize the underlying 
187 



1 

A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

cause. Only himself, alone at Washington, and his 
enemies knew and forecasted the future. Broder- 
ick's intellectual sagacity surpassed even that of 
Douglas with all the latter 's years of political knowl- 
edge, for he would not or could not observe the 
red light on the horizon increase in its balefulness 
of unhappy portent. 

This legislature condemned Broderick by reso- 
lution for not complying with the instructions of 
its predecessor relative to the Lecompton constitu- 
tion and stigmatized his words applied in the 
Senate to the President as a disgrace and humilia- 
tion to the nation and people. I have related else- 
where both the resolutions of the preceding Cali- 
fornia body and Broderick 's objurgation of Bu- 
chanan, to which the last resolutions applied. 

I have been unable to discover that these later 
declarations of the legislature were presented to 
the Senate, as were the first. Other Northern sen- 
ators in those days were reprimanded by their 
timid and thoughtless constituents, who dreamt the 
difficulties could be settled with words. There 
were Cass, Pugh, Bright, and even Sumner. It is 
true that in every instance reparation was ulti- 
mately made. 

The California legislature of 1861 expunged all 
these violent diatribes against Broderick, and his 
memory with becoming dignity and indignation, 
but that was two years after he had fallen, 
188 



DISSENSION 

Meanwhile the bitterness of it rankled in his lofty- 
spirit, and he must have doubted if, after all, he 
should be wrong. He had one rasping rencounter 
with Gwin, taunting him with his free-soil doc- 
trines in the California Constitutional Convention 
of 1849, and quoting from Gwin's own address, 
advocating freedom and not slavery. But 1859 
was ten years later. Men change, and perhaps 
with reason, in a much shorter period. Broderick 
also attacked several schemes which contemplated 
the expenditure of federal funds in California as 
improper and extravagant. Gwin was their author 
and defender. One has only to glance over the 
Senate proceedings to clearly observe the tempered 
rancor and augmenting irritation between the two 
senators. 

Gwin was not absent at this session as at the 
last. The country was fast drifting on the rocks, 
and he was one of the pilots directing its dangerous 
course to destruction; alert, active, adroit. 
Broderick was beset on every side. There was 
nothing he wanted that he could have. Every- 
thing he opposed succeeded. In one debate six of 
the enemy confronted him, each one of the six 
being a Southern senator. He stood alone with his 
back to the wall. Seward styled him openly "the 
brave young senator," but the Republicans were 
few and they did not comprehend the broadness 
of his intellect and the priceless value of his ser- 
189 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

vices. They regarded him with pity mingled with 
respect; but he was a Democrat. 

Douglas had been sorely wounded in his forum 
contest with Lincoln. His lifelong dream of the 
Presidency he saw was only a dream, and his 
lifelong friends were wandering from his side 
into the filmy fog of the future. He could only 
pray for Broderick, but could not, dared not battle 
by his side. Besides, Broderick went far. His 
steel-blue eyes, looking upwards at his father's 
monument, saw blood clouds encompassing the 
capital and the country. He had the clearest 
vision and intellect of any man in the Senate, and 
yet he was treated like a pariah; an outcast; 
taunted and baited until he began to doubt. Even 
his firm, rugged character quailed for a moment, 
and in his lonely environment he cried out: "If 
I have made a mistake here this evening I will try 
to correct it when I come here next winter if I 
should live so long and not resign in the meantime." 
Did these ominous, fateful expressions presage his 
doom? Did the memory of Ferguson cloud his 
mental vision? Did he know how his blood would 
be sought? Men do not talk of dying at thirty- 
nine without reasons. Yet there were gallant foes 
among those Southrons. Toombs and Benjamin 
were both chivalrous cavaliers, who would have 
rivalled the French at Fontenoy. While they as- 
sailed him often on national issues, on minor ajffairs 
190 



DISSENSION 

affecting his own state they aided him. They 
seemed to take a grim delight in thwarting Gwin. 
It does not lie with me to censure the Southerners. 
The South was their country as the North was 
ours. They felt as Decatur said in his toast : ' ' Our 
country, may she be always right; but our coun- 
try, right or wrong." 

Lee followed not the Confederacy, but his state. 
That was his country. It is true the cause was 
indefensible. Slaves could not exist in civilized 
communities. Even in semi-barbarous South 
America they had been manumitted. The propo- 
nents of slavery were warring against the inevi- 
table, against the moving glacier of modern prog- 
ress. But many a man fought in Southern ranks 
not for slavery, but for his state. It is all over 
now and the Union is stronger after the struggle, 
though those who glance over these pages may be 
appalled at the venom and ferocity with which 
some were pursued. 

As a senator Broderick not only advocated the 
enfranchisement of labor, but stood for the home- 
stead law; for the endowment of mechanical and 
agricultural colleges by Congress ; for the construc- 
tion of a railway from the Missouri River to the 
Pacific Ocean ; for the prosecution of peculators in 
all departments of the government, and for general 
reform and retrenchment in public affairs. Among 
the special objects of his animadversions were cor- 
191 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

rupt Indian agents; venal surveyors of public 
lands; jobbery by postmasters and the rascally 
revenue collectors of the administration, sparing 
not even Buchanan himself. 

He left Washington, his birthplace, forever, on 
the adjournment of Congress in March, 1859. While 
conversing with friends at a hotel in New York he 
was wantonly insulted by two men, — unknown to 
him. On a repetition of the offense, Broderick, 
strong and active, struck them both severely with 
his cane. Subsequently it was learned that they 
were from New Orleans and of a certain standing. 

The affair annoyed him, as it seemed premedi- 
tated, and he suspected a plot to force a duel. Was 
it not a forerunner of the future? In bidding 
farewell to a friend in New York, he said : " I don 't 
know whether you will ever see me again." 

In this gloomy mood he returned home, via Pan- 
ama, to find political chaos reigning in California. 
There was no question of his position. He was 
clearly opposed to all the dominant elements, both 
in Washington and at home. He was hardly a Dem- 
ocrat; he was not yet a Republican, and there was 
no half-way house. He was in that anomalous posi- 
tion of men who doubt the old, but still are not 
quite ready for the vigorous embrace of the exuber- 
ant young. He could not, would not, deny his 
antagonism to Buchanan and Southern dogmas, 
and yet dared he desert the Democratic party? 
192 



DISSENSION 

Where would he go? The Republican organiza- 
tion was his natural home, for in that which caused 
its birth and growth — opposition to slavery — he 
was one of the most early and ardent advocates. 
In effect, each state and government official was 
Southern by birth or sentiment. It was said that 
of an hundred and fifty federal officeholders sta- 
tioned in San Francisco, all but five sprang from 
south of Mason and Dixon's line. Which, of 
course, was both unjust and imprudent, for it car- 
ried reflection and irritation to Northern men. By 
now, indeed, the cleavage was pronounced and the 
two factions were ranging in ranks. Only the 
Democrats could not yet forget the fetich of the 
name under which as talisman they had ruled the 
land these many years. Hence Northern Demo- 
crats were dissatisfied and discontented, yet knew 
not where to go nor why. 

Nevertheless, the rupture was complete. On the 
question of the Lecompton constitution, the Demo- 
crats divided, formed two state conventions and 
nominated two complete state tickets. The fed- 
eral and state governments combined in favor of 
the Lecompton constitution and were undoubtedly 
the regular Democratic organization, and as such 
carried the votes of those whom I have indicated, 
as well as of the timid, who deprecated change 
and confusion. They were not seers nor Cassan- 
dras and could not penetrate the future. On his 
193 



' A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

side Broderick selected as candidate for governor 
a Republican. 

He was too sagacious not to know he could not 
win without their aid and probably not with them, 
for he, better than any man in the state, fathomed 
the depth, solidity and discipline of the battle line 
which he confronted. Doubtless he hoped for 
fusion, and Horace Greeley, one of the earliest 
and foremost Republicans, then on a visit to the 
coast, openly advised the California Republicans 
to coalesce with Broderick and his Democratic ad- 
herents. 

But the California Republicans declined, per- 
haps feeling with Pompey that more people wor- 
shipped the rising than the setting sun. Still the 
sentiment between the new birth and the anti- 
Lecomptonites was cordial. Baker, the Republican 
nominee for Congress, and Broderick became close 
and intimate associates. They were of the same 
stamp and type, men who led multitudes and 
founded states. 

For the first time Broderick canvassed the state 
addressing the people. Very likely his sojourn in 
the Senate and contact with ready and fluent ora- 
tors had furnished him with courage and a certain 
aptitude. He spoke frequently in a clear, sonor- 
ous voice, distinctly heard. His enunciation was 
deliberate and his elocution good. He seldom ges- 
194 



DISSENSION 

ticulated and never played cadence with his sen- 
tences — the orator's charm. 

Not a jest, not a smile, but intensely resolved, 
grand, gloomy and peculiar, as Shiel said of Napo- 
leon. He accused Gwin of several public transac- 
tions as senator, which were prompted by venal 
motives; he delved into details on these matters; 
challenged Gwin to a public debate before the popu- 
lace, and summed up his sins and crimes with the 
phrase "dripping with corruption." 

Gwin, who was also active in the campaign, re- 
plied with vigor and ascerbity, and the conflict 
became bitterly personal and acrimonious. Latham, 
who had been a candidate for senator when Broder- 
ick and Gwin were elected and who was now the 
Lecompton nominee for governor, made a second 
antagonist of Broderick. He was of the North 
with Southern prejudices and predilections, and 
supported Gwin, for therein lay advancement, but 
he was neither loved by the one nor hated by the 
other to a pernicious degree. 

The senatorial election of 1857 was one of the 
principal topics, and Latham was involved only to 
a less degree than Gwin, The difference was that 
Gwin gave Broderick a written letter of renuncia- 
tion and abdication of the government patronage, 
and Latham did not, though he had been quite 
willing. Broderick had carefully refrained from 
informing the people of this extremely humble and 
195 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

abject paper. He was not of a forgiviui; ov 
magnanimons nature, but his party creed and faitli 
had been deep and constant, and he knew the reve- 
lation would never be forgiven. 

Now, however, he himself had left Democrac}' 
and was drifting on the political waters, farther 
and farther from the old shores and nearer and 
nearer to the new, from whence shone the light of 
Republicanism that was to save the republic. 

Besides, he felt that Gwin deserved no sympathy 
for his turpitude in continuing to advise Buchanan, 
as if no such damning document existed. So, in 
August, at a meeting under the pines and the stars 
at Shasta, he said : 

"I now return to Gwin, and I shall be brief. I 
will give you the copy of the letter that I believe 
led to the death of W. L. Ferguson. Do you be- 
lieve it was for nothing that Ferguson's desk in 
the Senate chamber was broken open immediately 
after his decease? On his deathbed Ferguson told 
General Estill where he could tind the letter. A 
curse has followed tliat letter, and I now give it 
to the public that the curse may return to its 
author — that its disgrace and shame may burn the 
brand upon his forehead even as plainly, as pal- 
pably as the scarlet letter burned upon the breast 
of Hester Pryn! Let Dr. Gwin or any of his set 
deny its authority and I will prove that he wrote 
it, letter for letter, column for column." 
196 



DISSENSION 

He then read the instrument which appears on 
an earlier page of this volume. 

Qwin, in his reply a few days later at Yreka, said 
that Brodcrick was *'a cowardly liar. He will 
slander and lie upon me — it is his vocation and 
has been that of his minions I'or years, but I will 
survive it now as I liuve li(!r(!toi"ore. The more he 
abuses me the more firmly I will liold the (;()ufi(ien(^e 
of my constituents. This is strong language, but I 
intend it to be so. Brodcrick is to l)c here in a sliort 
time and I wish him to understand it." These 
words with their direct implication and applica- 
tion conveyed a clear significance that was univcir- 
sally understood and accepted. In the same ad- 
dress he refers almost humorously to the penalties 
of patronage in language that I heard re-cclioed 
by another senator forty years afterwards. Gwin 
said: 

* ' The first five years of my term I had no trouble 
on the subject of executive patronage as it was 
a Whig reign. I made no complaint. But when 
Pierce came in and new officers had to be ap- 
pointed all the officeseekers flacked to Washington. 
I among others was beset by them. You can form 
no idea of the manner in which they urged their 
claims. There was about five for every office. They 
interrupted me in the senate chamber, and I was 
not safe in my own home from their pursuit. I 
never got up to eat my breakfast but my eyes were 
197 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

greeted with the sight of them. The result was 
that I came to the determination never to have 
anything to do with the dispensing of office if I 
remained in the senate. 

"For Collector of the Port of San Francisco, 
under Pierce, there were two prominent candidates 
— Marshall and another. The President informed 
me that if I would commend Marshall he would 
appoint him, otherwise, from personal feelings, he 
would give the appointment to the other, Latham, 
I declined signing Marshall's paper. He came 
home the worst enemy I had. 

"With all the talent he is Imown to possess, by 
articles signed 'Interior,' attacking me, etc., he 
proved the bitterest foe I ever had. The gentle- 
man appointed to the office is at present one of my 
enemies, ' ' 



198 



CHAPTER XI 

PROVOCATION 

David S. Terry came to California from Texas 
in 1849 and located in Stockton. He volunteered 
in the United States service from Texas during the 
Mexican War in 1846 and served throughout as 
one of a company of mounted rangers. Their 
principal function was to repel Mexican and Indian 
incursions from the borders, where helpless fami- 
lies and small hamlets lay unprotected. 

As a mounted soldier he acquitted himself cred- 
itably and with courage. The war ended in 1848, 
and young Terry became an advocate. The next 
year he followed the hejira toward the West that 
came from all quarters of the globe, and crossed 
the plains to California. A year or two later he 
returned to Texas, married, and brought his bride 
to Stockton, which became their permanent resi- 
dence. He was always an active Democrat in state 
politics, conventions and in the local politics of 
his county. 

He was a strong opponent of Broderick in the 
convention of 1854, which assembled in the Sacra- 
mento church and nearly ended its deliberations in 
a sanguinary battle. Subsequently he deserted 
199 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the Democratic organization and espoused the 
Native American party. During its meteoric and 
ephemeral career he was elected in 1855 as associate 
justice of the Supreme Court of California and took 
office the first of the ensuing year. Some time 
thereafter Chief Justice Murray died and Terry 
was appointed by the governor his successor. 

In the summer of 1856, only a few months after 
his elevation and before the demise of Murray, he 
stabbed one of the Vigilante officers in San Fran- 
cisco for which he was tried and released by the 
committee after an imprisonment of several weeks. 

A year later Stephen J. Field was chosen to fill 
the vacancy on the supreme bench caused by the 
elevation of Terry to the chief justiceship. His 
tenure of office terminated in three years; that is 
at the end of 1859. 

Elected as a Know-Nothing, Terry, like many 
others, had abandoned this organization and be- 
came once again a Democrat. Always an extreme 
partisan the bitter feud raging between the two 
wings of the party had found in the Texan an 
ardent response, and his Southern slavery antece- 
dents and proclivities naturally ranked him with 
that element. 

After his dangerous experiment with the 
Vigilantes in 1856 he remembered and conserved 
the dignity demanded of his station and exercised 
his judicial functions with justice and honor. 
200 



PROVOCATION 

Three years later he was a candidate before the 
Lecompton convention to succeed himself. But 
the delegates chose another contestant. The same 
evening, at Sacramento, after his defeat, he came 
before the convention and delivered a vehement 
address. The subjoined is a part of his speech : 

* ' What other ? A miserable remnant of a faction 
sailing under false colors trying to obtain votes 
under false pretenses. They have no distinction 
they are entitled to. They are the followers of one 
man, the personal chattels of a single individual, 
whom they are ashamed of ; they belong heart and 
soul, body and breeches, to David C. Broderick. 

"They are yet ashamed to acknowledge their 
master, and are calling themselves, forsooth, Doug- 
las Democrats, when it is known to them, as to 
us, that the gallant senator from Illinois, whose 
voice has always been heard in the advocacy of 
Democratic principles, has no affiliation with them, 
no feeling in common with them. 

"Perhaps, Mr. President and gentlemen, I am 
mistaken in denying their rights to claim Douglas 
as their leader; but it is the banner of the Black 
Douglas, whose name is Frederick, not Stephen." 

These were the words of the chief justice of the 
state, delivered after three years of silence, before 
a body of delegates who had just defeated his as- 
pirations, so that no epithets, however violent, 
could have altered their declared resolve. 
201 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

Even today, when we are very tolerant and philo- 
sophical toward political animadversions, such a 
diatribe would be indignantly resented; still more 
so in the years of which I write. Every man of 
distinction was careful of his language, public and 
private; people would fight for a pin and their 
"honor" was, of course, a more valuable com- 
modity. 

Terry, in his letter to the Vigilantes, said : * ' One 
of the first lessons I learned was to avoid giving 
an insult, and to allow none to be given to me. 
I have acted and expect to act on this principle. 
I believe no man has a right to outrage the feel- 
ings of another, or attempt to blast his good name 
without being responsible for his actions." 

If Terry thought others felt like himself he must 
have expected recognition. On the morning of the 
27th of June Broderick, while at the breakfast table 
of the International Hotel in San Francisco, read 
in a journal the address of Terry, delivered in 
Sacramento two days previously. He became angry 
and disturbed and spoke to a friend at the table, 
the company including several ladies. He observed 
that while Terry was incarcerated by the Vigi- 
lance Committee he had paid $200 a week to sup- 
port a newspaper to defend him, and added: 
"I have said that I considered him the only hon- 
est man on the supreme bench, but I now take it 
all back." Mr. D. W. Perley, by a coincidence, 
202 



PROVOCATION 

was breakfasting in the room and heard Brod- 
erick. Perley, though not an American citizen, had 
been a legal colleague of Terry until the latter 's 
accession to the Supreme Court. Years previously 
Terry had seconded Perley in a duel, and Perley, 
in the trial of Terry before the Vigilance Commit- 
tee, had given strong and insistent evidence in 
favor of Terry's personal character and integrity. 
Hence he was an old and intimate friend, 
though his professional and personal standing had 
somewhat lessened since Terry was no longer his 
associate. He asked Broderick if he meant Terry, 
and being answered "yes," at once resented the 
words used by Broderick, who cut him short with 
some curt remarks that Perley deemed personally 
offensive. He sent a challenge to Broderick, which 
the latter declined, giving his reasons in a some- 
what lengthy epistle, from which I quote: 

"For many years and up to the time of my ele- 
vation to the position I now occupy it was well 
known that I would not have avoided any issue of 
the character proposed. If compelled to accept a 
challenge it could only be with a gentleman hold- 
ing a position equally elevated and responsible ; and 
there are no circumstances which could induce 
me even to do this during the pending of the pres- 
ent canvass. When I authorized the announcement 
that I would address the people of California 
during the campaign it was suggested that efforts 
203 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

would be made to force me into difficulties, and I 
determined to take no notice of attacks from any 
source during the canvass. There are probably 
many other gentlemen who would seek similar op- 
portunities for hostile meetings for the purpose of 
accomplishing a political object or to obtain public 
notoriety. 

"I cannot afford at the present time to descend 
to a violation of the constitution and the state 
laws to subserve either their or your purposes. ' ' 

A few days later one of the city press ad- 
verting to the subject remarked: "For refusing 
to fight a duel under the circumstances, the large 
mass of the people will honor D. C. Broderick. The 
belief is quite general that there are certain polit- 
ical opponents of his who long for a chance to 
shoot him, either in a fair or unfair fight, and that 
efforts would be made sooner or later to involve 
him in a personal difficulty. It is wisdom on his 
part to avoid the traps set for him and thus defeat 
all the plans of those in whose path he happens to 
just now stand. His seat in the Senate would be 
quite acceptable to a number of gentlemen in the 
state. The people of California ought to manifest 
in a manner not to be mistaken, their approval of 
the conduct of a public man who exhibits courage 
to refuse upon any ground to accept a challenge." 

All this in a most matter-of-fact way, as if hunt- 
ing the life of a senator of the United States was 
204 



PROVOCATION 

not an unusual and customary proceeding! And 
Broderick also refers to this assumption in his let- 
ter above. It seems to have been in the air, on 
everyone's lips, in every gathering, that this man 
was to be followed and shot like a wild beast ! 

Over two months afterwards, on Wednesday, the 
7th of September, occurred the election and, dur- 
ing this period Terry said never a word. His 
only public address in three years was the one 
from which I have given the excerpt attacking 
Broderick. Broderick emerged from the contest 
dispirited, defeated, in ill-health, which had clung 
to him for months, and should have gone to a 
sanitarium. He had just ended the most severe and 
trying canvass within the memory of Californians, 
concentrating in his own person the abuse, cal- 
umny and vituperation of his triumphant adver- 
saries. Mark now how events followed fast and 
followed faster. The election was on the 7th of 
September. That very day Terry forwarded to 
the governor his written resignation as Chief Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of the state of Califor- 
nia. His duration of the office expired with the 
year. He left Sacramento immediately, journeyed 
direct to Oakland and at once sent to Broderick the 
subjoined communication : 

"Oakland, September 8, 1859. 

"Hon. D. C. Broderick, Sir: Some two months 
since, at the public table in the International Hotel 
205 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

in San Francisco, you saw fit to indulge in certain 
remarks concerning me, which were offensive in 
their nature. Before I had heard of the circum- 
stance your note of 29th of June, addressed to Mr. 
D. W. Perley, in which you declared that you 
would not respond to any call of a personal char- 
acter during the political canvass just concluded, 
had been published. 

"I have, therefore, not been permitted to take 
any notice of these remarks until the expiration 
of the limit fixed by yourself. I now take the 
earliest opportunity to require of you a retraction 
of those remarks. This note will be handed you 
by my friend, Calhoun Benham, Esq., who is ac- 
quainted with its contents and will receive your 
reply. 

"D. S. Teery." 

Benham sought out Broderick, gave him the 
letter and requested an immediate response. Brod- 
erick said he would answer the day following, but 
Benham asked for a reply directly and it was so 
agreed. 

The reply follows : 

"San Francisco, September 8, 1859. 

"Hon. D. S. Terry, Sir: Your note of Septem- 
ber 8th reached me through the hands of Mr. Cal- 
houn Benham. The remarks used by me in the 
conversation referred to may be a subject of future 
misrepresentation; and for obvious reasons I have 
206 



PROVOCATION 

to desire you to state what were the remarks that 
you designate in your note as offensive, and of 
which you require of me a retraction. 
**I remain, etc., 

'*D. C. Broderick." 
This is Terry's answer: 

"San Francisco, September 9th, 1859. 
''Hon D. C. Broderick, Sir: In reply to your 
note of this date I have to say that the offensive 
remarks to which I alluded in my communication 
of yesterday are as follows: 'I have hitherto con- 
sidered and spoken of him (myself) as the only 
honest man on the Supreme Court bench; but I 
now take it all back,' thus by implication reflect- 
ing on my personal and official integrity. This is 
the substance of your remarks as reported to me; 
the precise terms, however, in which such an im- 
plication was conveyed are not important to the 
question. 

"You yourself can best remember the terms in 
which you spoke of me on the occasion referred 
to. What I require is the retraction of any words 
which were calculated to reflect on my character 
as an official or a gentleman. 

"I remain, your obedient servant, 

"D. S. Terry." 
"Friday evening, September 9th. 
"Hon. D. S. Terry — Yours of this date has been 
received. The remarks made by me were occa- 
207 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

sioned by certain offensive allusions of yours 
concerning me made in the convention at Sacra- 
mento, reported in the Union of Jime 25th. 
Upon the topic alluded to in your note of this 
date my language so far as my recollection serves 
me, was as follows: 'During Judge Terry's 
incarceration by the Vigilance Committee I 
paid $200 a week to support a newspaper 
in his (yours) defense.' I have also stated 
heretofore that I considered him (Judge Terry) 
the only honest man on the supreme bench, but 
I take it all back. You are the best judge as 
to whether this language affords good ground for 
offense. 

"I remain, etc., 

"D. C. Broderick." 
"San Francisco, September 9th, 1859. 
"Hon. D. C. Broderick, Sir: Some months ago 
you used language concerning me offensive in its 
nature. I waited the lapse of a period of time 
fixed by yourself before I asked reparation there- 
for at your hands. You replied, asking specifica- 
tions of the language used which I regarded as of- 
fensive. In another letter I gave you the speci- 
fication and reiterated my demand for a retraction. 
To this last letter you reply, acknowledging the use 
of the offensive language imputed to you and not 
making the retraction required. This course on 
your part leaves me no other alternative but to 
208 



PROVOCATION 

demand the satisfaction usual among gentlemen, 
whicli I accordingly do. Mr. Benham will make 
the necessary arrangements. 

"Your obedient servant, 

"D. S. Terry." 
"San Francisco, September 10th, 1859. 

"Hon. D. S. Terry, Sir: Your note of the above 
date has been received at 1 o'clock A. M., Septem- 
ber 10th. 

"In response to the same I will refer you to my 
friend, Hon. J. C. McKibben, who will make tht 
necessary arrangements demanded in your letter. 
"I remain, etc., 

"D. C. Broderick." 

The super-serviceable friends of Broderick, in 
obedience to Benham 's behest, repaired to Haskell's 
house at Black Point, a mile and a half distant, 
awoke the wearied and harassed man at dead of 
night and brought him to the city to be presented 
by Benham with a cartel challenging and threaten- 
ing his life. This was only the beginning of 
blunders. 

Directly afterwards, the same Saturday, the 
commissioners on both sides met and drew articles. 
On reading them one would conclude that they ap- 
plied to a treaty or conference on high legislation 
between puissant nations, so lengthy were the writ- 
ten preliminaries. They prepared to slaughter 
each other in those days with dignity and decorum. 
209 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

One change was made from the ordinary proce- 
dure in duels. The word ** three" was omitted, it 
being agreed that the contestants should shoot be- 
tween the words ' ' fire — one, two. ' ' This alteration 
was insisted upon by Broderick 's seconds. He was 
supposed to be a quicker and more accurate shot 
than Terry ; besides, for humanity 's sake, the shorter 
the period to aim and fire, the less the danger. 
Broderick was reputed one of the best shots in the 
state, while Terry's reputation had been made 
with the knife and not the pistol. But if two 
men will separate ten steps and face each other, 
holding the duelling pistols of the fifties, with long 
barrels that shoot like rifles, they will realize how 
murderously short the space, and how difficult to 
miss a man. 

It was also provided in the articles that the 
choice of weapons and position should be deter- 
mined by chance on the ground which was selected 
and described, and that the time should be 5:30 
A. M., the following Monday morning. 

Broderick occupied Saturday and Sunday in 
settling his personal affairs and, it is said, in draw- 
ing his last testament. He was under no delusion. 
He was aware that his life was in great danger, 
that the crisis had arrived which he foresaw, when 
on leaving New York the last time he mournfully 
said to one of his friends who accompanied him to 
the departing steamer: "Good-bye. You may 
210 



PROVOCATION 

never see me again." Rumors of the impending 
meeting abounded and he was constantly beset by- 
people who besought particulars. Duelling was 
like attending the theatre ; there were always spec- 
tators. 

On Monday morning early the actors and specta- 
tors, numbering several score, were on the ground, 
but presently there appeared the sheriff who placed 
the duellists under arrest. Being about to break 
the law they first obeyed the law — "I kissed her 
ere I killed her." 

During the day their respective counsel appeared 
before the justice, and he decided no breach of the 
peace had been committed. Of course not, hence 
the law could not interfere until some one was 
shot or slain ! 

All Monday afternoon and early eve Broderick 
was intensely preoccupied with the many urgent 
questions that the campaign had left un- 
answered, and arrangements for another meeting 
were left entirely to his seconds. These were cool, 
brave men. McKibben was an ex-Congressman. 
Colton, the other, had been sheriff of Siskiyou 
County and, almost single-handed, had quelled a 
miners' mob. But they had had no experience in 
the scientific art of shooting in cold blood. They had 
never participated in duels, either as principals or 
seconds, and they did not know that a man should 
be groomed for one like a horse for a race. 

211 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

It was decided that the second meeting should be 
next morning, at about the same time and place. 
This compact was concluded late on Monday. The 
distance from the city was nearly ten miles, over a 
rough and hilly road. 



212 



CHAPTER XII 

THE DUEL 

The pistols were the Lafoueheux type, a well 
known Belgian make, and had been brought to 
California by a French Creole named Beard. They 
represented the most approved European duelling 
pattern, with barrels twelve inches in length, but 
the stock or breech construction was different from 
that of ordinary American duelling pistols. Every 
nation has its idiosyncracies. 

Hence the man who had never handled them 
nor adjusted the stock to his hand would be cer- 
tainly at a disadvantage. They had been well tried in 
a code function two years earlier, between two Cali- 
fornians named Ryer and Langdon. Langdon, 
who was challenged and won choice of weapons, 
selected this pair and also the one he preferred. 
Both men practiced with the respective pistols al- 
lotted to them the day before the duel. Dr. Ryer, 
in firing the one assigned to him, discovered the 
hair trigger was so light and delicate that the 
pistol would be discharged on a sudden jar or mo- 
tion, without touching the trigger. Even thus 
forewarned of this eccentric characteristic he was 
unable upon the field to fully guard against the 
213 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

defect, and on the first two exchanges with his 
antagonist his bullets entered the ground directly 
in front. On the third round he succeeded in 
elevating it to his adversary's knee before it was 
discharged. The bullet struck the knee and 
stopped the duel, but Ryer stated that the bullets 
from Langdon's weapon whizzed unpleasantly past 
his ear, clearly evidencing that the other pistol was 
not similarly affected. 

This pair of pistols had passed into the possession 
of Dr. Aylette of Stockton, and were known as the 
**Aylette pistols." Dr. Aylette was Terry's in- 
timate friend and would have been with him at 
the duel had not the postponement sent him home 
to Stockton. 

Ex-Lieutenant Governor Daggett has written me 
a letter from which the annexed is an excerpt: 

* ' I had a talk with Senator Langf ord some years 
ago, who was a life-long friend of Terry's and, as 
I believe you know, a reliable and truthful man. 
Ben, much to my surprise, related to me the fact 
that when the duel was decided upon, Terry came 
to his house in Lodi for advice, and together they 
went to Dr. Aylette in Stockton, who had pistols 
and was authority upon such matters. 

' * They all went out to the doctor 's barn to prac- 
tice, and Ben said Terry never had carried a pis- 
tol — always depended upon his knife — and at his 
first attempts to fire at the words 'one, two, three,' 
214 



THE DUEL 

he could not hit the side of a barn, while Aylette 
would hit the size of a man every time. Of course 
he subsequently learned." 

Senator Langford was one of my associates, rep- 
resenting Stockton in the State Senate of Califor- 
nia in 1885, while Daggett was lieutenant-governor 
and presiding officer of the Senate. 

Judge Terry was a frequent visitor to the Sen- 
ate chamber, and Langford made us acquainted. 
I had several conferences with Terry and assisted 
in the passage of a measure that he strongly 
favored. My conception of him was that of an 
upright and capable gentleman. He was of mas- 
sive build, dignified mien, and demanded considera- 
tion. The shadows of the past seemed to cluster 
around his form, for he rarely smiled and was 
stoically silent. 

In my researches of his career while a jurist 
I can find no reproaches by any one as to the 
character or the justice of his decisions. 

It would appear from this statement of Lang- 
ford that Terry practiced with these "Aylette" 
pistols more than once, and it follows that 
he must perforce have become cognizant of the 
"tricky" defect or fault in one of them. As the 
duel occurred over two months after his speech, 
which was the first cause, he had ample time to 
perfect himself in the use of the pistols and de- 
liberately make all other personal arrangements, 
215 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

contemplating without doubt that the meeting must 
come. 

During this same period, Broderick was the 
leader and, therefore, the active participant in a 
harassing, acrimonious, fatiguing campaign, from 
which he emerged with shattered spirits, depleted 
health and exhausted body, to be instantly pre- 
sented with a sinister note and finally a deadly car- 
tel, all within three days after the election, when 
he should have been resting and recovering from 
the struggle. It has been stated that he had con- 
tracted pneumonia near the end of the canvass 
but for this I can find no positive authority. 

Monday night, Colton and McKibben, with a 
surgeon and Broderick, entered a carriage and 
were driven out to the Lake House, a little inn on 
the old Mission Road, some two miles from the sea, 
and the same distance north and west of the rendez- 
vous. The small habitation was almost untenanted, 
and low cots with scant covering constituted the 
sleeping accommodations. It was infested with 
sand fleas and no one closed an eyehd. In the raw 
and foggy morning they arose unrefreshed, and 
without a stimulant of any kind, not even a drop of 
coffee, the quartette, mounting the vehicle, drove to 
the spot where they descried Terry and his party. 
The latter had also passed the night in the vicinity, 
but it was in a comfortable farm house hard by, 
216 



THE DUEL 

where he was furnished with a good bed and a 
warm substantial breakfast when he arose. 

A group of men who had arrived on foot, on 
horseback and in carriages, stood at a distance on 
a knoll, like Romans viewing the gladiators in the 
Coliseum. They numbered some three score, and had 
left the city after midnight for the picnic ground. 
Broderick and Terry did not salute each other 
but stood apart conversing with friends. A city 
gunsmith had brought a pair of pistols, which had 
never been fired by either opponent. Broderick 's 
people brought none, while Terry's carried the 
"Aylette" pistols. The seconds of Broderick won 
the position and the giving of the words, but 
Terry's won a far more important point, the selec- 
tion of weapons. Of course they choose their 
own, and why not? Does one go to battle with 
one's own or with the enemy's arms? When our 
lives are in jeopardy would we not fight with our 
own sword, and shoot with our own pistol, which 
we know and have used rather than with one that 
we do not know and had not used ? 

Broderick had no favorite arms. He had dis- 
carded pistols since his election to the Senate, if 
not before, and, though reported a dead shot, had 
not handled a pistol for months. The "Aylettes" 
having been chosen, the next thing was to decide 
between the two as set down in number eight of the 
217 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

articles — " Choice of the two weapons to be deter- 
mined by chance as in Article Seven." 

McKibben, one of Broderick's seconds, snapped 
a cap on one of the pistols and was satisfied. He 
did not snap a cap on the second as he should have 
done, and I can find no evidence as to which one 
he thus tested. Then Terry's seconds took one of 
the pistols and the other remained for Broderick. 
Thus Article Eight — tossing for choice of pistols — 
was not fulfilled, nor did the seconds of Broderick 
so demand. 

After being thus allotted, the arms were sub- 
mitted to the gunsmith for examination. He made 
a careful inspection and pronounced them in 
good order, except that they were light and deli- 
cate on the triggers, and he also informed one of 
Terry's seconds that the one intended for Broder- 
ick was lighter on the trigger than the other. The 
armorer, Legardo, so testified at the inquest over 
Broderick's dead body, and he added that the 
pistol for Broderick was so delicate that it would 
explode by a sudden jar or movement. This evi- 
dence was not contradicted. Colton and McKibben 
stated in a public letter the day after the duel, 
and before Broderick's death, that had they known 
one of the weapons was lighter on the trigger 
than the other they would not have permitted the 
duel. Why did they not know? Did they ask, 
218 



THE DUEL 

and if they had asked, would they not have been 
told the verity at once? 

The day after, on his death bed, Broderick said 
that he did not touch the trigger of the pistol as 
he raised it, but that the sudden movement in 
elevating his arm from the vertical position caused 
the weapon to explode and the bullet plunged into 
the ground. 

While this prologue to the tragedy was passing, 
Broderick stood apart with Elliott J. Moore. He 
had been calm and collected, but when he was 
apprised that Terry's seconds had won the choice 
and saw the pistols, he complained to Moore of the 
inefficiency of his seconds and said they were no 
match for those of his adversary. He spoke of 
them as children and expressed apprehension lest 
they might unwittingly "trade away his life." 

The pistols were loaded, Broderick 's by the ar- 
morer and Terry's by S. H. Brooks, one of his 
faithful friends. The ten paces were measured 
and white marks placed to establish the distance. 
The men were told to take their stations. 

Up to now Terry seemed agitated and measured 
the space with an uneasy and an anxious glance. 
Benham approached Terry and whispered. Terry 
faintly smiled, became calm, and thereafter was 
as cold and impassive as the marble statue of 
El Comendador. Did the whispering cadence 
breathe aught of the pistol? 
219 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

In accord with the nominal rule, both men 
were searched by a second of the other. McKibben 
merely touched Terry's breast, but Benham manipu- 
lated his hands up and down Broderick 's person, as 
if he might discover a coat of mail. Broderick said 
to a friend near by that Benham had treated him 
"as an officer with a search warrant would search 
a thief for stolen property." Six years before, 
in his duel with Smith, a bullet from Smith's pistol 
had shattered a watch in Broderick 's fob pocket. 
After his death this broken jewel was found in his 
safe. Perhaps the memory of this episode caused 
Benham 's rigourousness ; but it was an ominous 
reminiscence for Broderick. Long after Benham 
acknowledged that he was not courteous, but said 
his principal's life being in danger, he was bound 
to do whatever was possible to protect him. 

But why did Broderick 's seconds permit this 
unusual and irritating personal examination? It 
angered and annoyed their principal, when, if ever, 
his calmness should not be disturbed. For many 
persons the indignity would have sufficed to ad- 
journ the combat. Lien's lives are lost by actions 
much less trivial. 

The loaded pistols were handed to the duellists 
and they faced each other, Terry, straight backed, 
wan and attenuated. Broderick, equally tall, but 
broader and heavier. The latter, on receiving his 
weapon, anxiously examined and turned it about, 
220 



THE DUEL 

scrutinizing and measuring its stock with his own 
hand. He seemed uneasj^, adjusting his hand to 
the conformation of the breech and presenting an 
unsatisfied appearance. These efforts caused him 
to swerve from the line, and in response to Ben- 
ham's suggestion, one of his perennially gentle- 
manly seconds spoke to him. He changed his 
attitude, but his body slightly projected and of- 
fered a fairer mark. Duellists stand with their 
sides facing one another, head and feet in ver- 
tical plane, so that no part of the body shall 
be unduly exposed. He stood with his back to the 
rising sun, driving over the distant sea the dark 
and dismal fogs slowly emerging from the bleak, 
somber slopes and canons, where they had wandered 
to and fro in the restless night. The white surf 
of the broad Pacific rose in vapory laced veils, en- 
veloping the fleeing fog in its snowy embrace, and 
leaping as if with ardent steps to greet the com- 
ing orb. 

Fronting the ocean like himself was California, 
that California on which he stood and to whose 
fame and future he had consecrated his hopes, all 
his energy and devotion — California with her 
mountains and valleys, her glens, where the gold 
grew, and her hills crested with gigantic trees 
towering to the stars and coeval with recorded life. 
With troubled mien he turned to the pistol, which 
was of a type he had never used and had hardly 
221 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

ever seen. He was too discerning not to instantly 
realize his disadvantage, and with nervous motions 
continued to adjust the stock which did not seem to 
fit his hand. Even after the words had been 
* ' exemplified ' ' by Colton and repeated by Benham 
he did not cease to labor at the weapon. 

Presently Colton said, "Gentlemen, are you 
ready?" Terry, who had stood immovable and 
imperturbable since the whispering, directly re- 
plied, ''Ready." Broderick, who wore a soft 
black hat, pulled down low over his forehead, still 
fingered the intractable arm, and it was four or 
five seconds after Terry's response that, with a 
nod to Colton, he also answered ' ' Ready. ' ' 

The duellists held their pistols vertically to the 
side, with the muzzles pointing downward. Colton 
said, after a moment's interval, "Fire — one — 
two — "like the measured strokes of a cathedral 
clock. Broderick fired as ' * one ' ' was pronounced, and 
Terry at "two." Broderick 's bullet struck the 
earth midway between himself and his adversary. 
Terry's shot entered Broderick 's body about an 
inch and a half above the right breast, penetrating 
the lung. Broderick swerved, staggered and 
gradually dropped on his left side until his left 
shoulder rested on the sward, the useless pistol 
dropping from his nerveless grasp. He told 
Baker on his death couch between gasps and with 
the blood gushing from his breast, "Baker, when I 
222 



THE DUEL 

was struck I tried to stand firm, but the blow 
blinded me and I could not." 

After Broderick's fall, Benham walked to Terry, 
who instantly said, "The wound is not mortal. I 
have hit two inches too far out." From a man 
who was presumed not to know how to shoot, this 
revelation of expert knowledge and confidence is 
marvelous. The physician who accompanied Brod- 
erick's party, carried a small bag of surgical in- 
struments, from which a saw protruded, as if he 
were going to hospital after a battle. He lost his 
head, became confused, and not until the other 
doctor came forward was anything done to relieve 
the stricken man's anguish. 

A carriage and mattress were brought and Brod- 
erick was conveyed ten miles to Black Point and 
placed in the mansion of Leonidas Haskell. The 
same residence in which he had been aroused at 
midnight three days before to receive the challenge. 
Chloroform was administered which, by affecting 
his nervous system, strung to the utmost tension in 
the three days' harassing anxiety preceding the 
combat, deadened the excruciating agony. Be- 
fore the contest he expressed the resolve not to 
shoot Terry above the hips, as he considered that 
he had no quarrel with him. That is thought to be 
the reason why he pulled the black sombrero so low 
over his brow. 

In delirium he recalled this determination and 
223 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

the conviction that he was to be hunted until 
killed. He talked ramblingly of the election de- 
feat; of those great principles for which he had 
striven; of the fact that he had been deserted 
by the people, and that he was to be silenced. 
"They have killed me because I was opposed to a 
corrupt administration and the extension of 
slavery. ' ' 

The sentiment of the startled and horrified com- 
munity is perhaps shown in an editorial in one of 
the city papers the day after the duel and while 
Life and Death grappled over his prostrate form. 
It said: "What has this man done that he should 
be hunted and abused? Wherein was his great 
offense against the land or the Nation? What law 
of morality or religion did he violate ? What trea- 
son did he commit against his country? What 
widow did he wrong — what orphan did he de- 
fraud? What act of his in an official capacity 
ever stained his hand? What was his crime?" 
Broderick's final expression, as he lapsed into 
death 's lethargy, was : "I die ; protect my honor. ' ' 

He was shot Tuesday morning and died Friday 
morning, September 16, 1859. The intelligence, 
like all doleful tidings, spread like a pestilence. 
People refused to credit that which their hearts 
dreaded — that he had been thus slain in the very 
morning of his career ; that his sun had set while it 
was yet day. But the conviction, the sad con- 
224 



THE DUEL 

viction, was verity. Men's hearts sank; eyes were 
moistened by tears which the sternest pride of man- 
hood could not repress, and voices were hushed to 
earnest whisperings. They left their daily voca- 
tions and gathered in groups discussing the one 
topic, sjome offering consolation, other generous trib- 
ute to the untimely dead. There was no concerted 
signal of woe, no set form or phase of sorrow; 
but gloom like a black mist crested the town and 
its expression was silence. There was no parade of 
mourning, no ostentatious grief. Men asked not 
what others did, nor did they care. Moved by the 
fullness of their individual sorrow, they suspended 
business, draped doors, and repaired slowly to their 
homes. 

San Francisco had never such a day in its stormy 
existence. There are those living who yet recall 
the universal gloom. Meanwhile the dead senator 
was conveyed to the city and placed in a chamber 
of the Union Hotel, on the corner of Merchant and 
Kearny streets, to be viewed by all those who 
venerated martyrs. 

On Sunday afternoon the body was removed 
opposite, to the Plaza, deposited on a catafalque, 
and without music, banners, religion, organizations 
or chairman, but in the presence of the dead and 
of thirty thousand silent, living men. Colonel Baker 
pronounced a discourse almost unrivalled in Eng- 
lish literature. 

225 



A SENATOR OF THE FIFTIES 

The Monte Diablo range to the east, recalling the 
Alban Hills; the sparkling September sun, scarce 
equalled by Italia 's brilliant sunshine; the seven 
hills of San Francisco, like the seven hills of Rome 
— the first towering o'er the plaza where lay the 
stricken senator, while the others, looking over the 
forum, on the mangled body of the first of the 
Caesars — surely, to the modern Antony, who lived 
and died as did his ancient prototype, the parallel 
must have occurred when he exclaims: 

' ' What hopes are buried with him in the grave. ' ' 

He sleeps at the base of Lone Mountain, itself 

as lonely as he, where, facing the lordly Pacific, 

he lies, a pathetic and memorable sacrifice to the 

minotaur of human slavery. 



226 



APPENDIX 

David S. Terry was indicted for his duel with Broderick, 
as it contravened the State laws. The case was transferred 
to another county and there dismissed. During the Civil 
War he joined the Confederate forces, was wounded at 
the battle of Chickamauga, and attained the rank of Briga- 
dier General. 

At the close of the conflict he repaired to Mexico, but 
returned to California in 1869, and, locating again at Stock- 
ton, resumed the practice of the legal profession. 

Some years later he became advocate for a lady who was 
one of the principals in a noted divorce suit. Subsequently 
they were espoused. Legal contentions arising from the 
first marriage caused her to appear before the Circuit 
Court held in Oakland, over which Stephen J. Field, Asso- 
ciate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, presided. 

In open court the Justice proceeded to read the decision. 
As he continued, the tenor was manifestly unfavorable to 
Mrs. Terry's claims. She suddenly arose and interrupted 
the reading by violently upbraiding and denouncing Field. 
He ordered her removal from the judicial chamber. She 
resisted, and Terry, coming to his wife 's assistance, drew 
a knife and assaulted the bailiffs. He was disarmed, both 
parties secured, and the Court of three judges sentenced 
Mrs. Terry to one month and her husband to six months' 
imprisonment, which they served in full. 

Justice Field returned to Washington, and the next year, 
in fulfillment of his official requirements, came again to 
California. He had been informed that Terry uttered 
threats of violence against his person, and therefore he 

227 



APPENDIX 

was accompanied by a man employed by the Government 
to act in the capacity of guard. 

On their journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco, 
Field and his companion, with other passengers, left the 
train to lunch at a small hamlet named Lathrop. Terry 
and his wife, who had boarded the cars en route, also 
descended and shortly afterward entered the same res- 
taurant. A few minutes later, Terry arose from his seat, 
walked directly back of Field and slapped or struck the 
venerable justice on the face, while he was yet seated. 
Neagle, the guard who attended Field, leaped to his feet 
and shot Terry twice, who fell and died instantly. 

This event occurred on the 15th of August, 1889, not 
quite thirty years from the day when Terry shot Broderick. 



228 



ORATION BY 

COL. E. D. BAKER 

DELIVEEED OVER THE DEAD BODY OF DAVID C. 
BRODERICK, AT PORTSMOUTH SQUARE, SAN 
FRANCISCO, ON THE 18th OF SEPTEMBER, 1859. 
Citizens of California: 

A Senator lies dead in our midst! He is wrapped in a 
bloody shroud, and we, to whom his toils and cares were 
given, are about to bear him to the place appointed for all 
the living. It is not fit that such a man should pass to the 
tomb unheralded; it is not fit that such a life should steal 
unnoticed to its close; it is not fit that such a death should 
call forth no rebuke, or be followed by no public lamenta- 
tion. It is this conviction which impels the gathering of this 
assemblage. We are here of every station and pursuit, of 
every creed and character, each in his capacity of citizen, 
to swell the mournful tribute which the majesty of the 
people offers to the unreplying dead. He lies today sur- 
rounded by little of funeral pomp. No banners droop above 
the bier, no melancholy music floats upon the reluctant air. 
The hopes of high-hearted friends droop like fading flowers 
upon his breast, and the struggling sigh compels the tear 
in eyes that seldom weep. Around him are those who have 
known him best and loved him longest; who have shared the 
triumph, and endured the defeat. Near him are the gravest 
and noblest of the State, possessed by a grief at once earnest 
and sincere; while beyond, the masses of the people whom 
he loved, and for whom his life was given, gather like a 
thunder-cloud of swelling and indignant grief. 

In such a presence, fellow-citizens, let us linger for a 

229 



APPENDIX 

moment at the portals of the tomb, whose shadowy arches 
vibrate to the public heart, to speak a few brief words of 
the man, of his life, and of his death. 

Mr. Broderick was born in the District of Columbia, in 
1819. He was of Irish descent, and of obscure and re- 
spectable parentage; he had little of early advantages, and 
never summoned to his aid a complete and finished education. 
His boyhood and his early manhood were passed in the City 
of New York, and the loss of his father early stimulated him 
to the efforts which maintained his surviving mother and 
brother, and served also to fix and form his character even 
in his boyhood. His love for his mother was his first and 
most distinctive trait of character, and when his brother 
died — an early and sudden death — the shock gave a serious 
and reflective cast to his habits and his thoughts, which 
marked them to the last hour of his life. 

He was always filled with pride, and energy, and ambi- 
tion — his pride was in the manliness and force of his char- 
acter, and no man had more reason than he for such pride. 
His energy was manifest in the most resolute struggles with 
poverty and obscurity, and his ambition impelled him to 
seek a foremost place in the great race for honorable power. 

Up to the time of his arrival in California, his life had 
been passed amid events incident to such a character. Fear- 
less, self-reliant, open in his enmities, warm in his friend- 
ships, wedded to his opinions, and marching directly to his 
purpose through and over all opposition, his career was 
checkered with success and defeat: but even in defeat his 
energies were strengthened and his character developed. 
When he reached these shores, his keen observation taught 
him at once that he trod a broad field, and that a higher 
career was before him. He had no false pride : sprung from 
a people and of a race whose vocation was labor, he toiled 
with his own hands, and sprang at a bound from the work- 
shop to the legislative hall. From that time there congre- 

230 



APPENDIX 

gated around him and against him the elements of success 
and defeat — strong friendships, bitter enmities, high praise, 
malignant calumnies — but he trod with a free and a proud 
step that onward path which has led him to glory and the 
grave. 

It would be idle for me, at this hour and in this place, to 
speak of all that history with unmitigated praise: it will 
be idle for his enemies hereafter to deny his claim to noble 
virtues and high purposes. When, in the Legislature, he 
boldly denounced the special legislation which is the curse of 
a new country, he proved his courage and his rectitude. 
When he opposed the various and sometimes successful 
schemes to strike out the salutary provisions of the Con- 
stitution which guarded free labor, he was true to all the 
better instincts of his life. When, prompted by ambition 
and the admiration of his friends, he first sought a seat in 
the Senate of the United States, he aimed by legitimate 
effort to attain the highest of all earthly positions, and 
failed with honor. 

It is my duty to say that, in my judgment, when at a 
later period he sought to anticipate the Senatorial election, 
he committed an error which I think he lived to regret. It 
would have been a violation of the true principles of repre- 
sentative government, which no reason, public or private, 
could justify, and could never have met the permanent ap- 
proval of good and wise men. Yet, while I say this over 
his bier, let me remind you of the temptation to such an 
error, of the plans and reasons which prompted it — of the 
many good purposes it was intended to effect. And if am- 
bition, ' ' the last infirmity of noble minds, ' ' led him for a 
moment from the better path, let me remind you how nobly 
he regained it. 

It is impossible to speak within the limits of this address, 
of the events of that session of the Legislature at which he 
was elected to the Senate of the United States; but some 

231 



APPENDIX 

things should not be passed in silence here. The contest 
between him and the present Senator had been bitter and 
personal. He had triumphed. He had been wonderfully 
sustained by his friends, and stood confessedly "the first 
in honor and the first in place." He yielded to an appeal 
made to his magnanimity by his foe. If he judged unwisely, 
he has paid the forfeit well. Never in the history of 
poUtieal warfare has any public man been so pursued; 
never has malignity so exhausted itself. 

Fellow-citizens! the man whose body lies before you was 
your Senator. From the moment of his election his char- 
acter has been maligned, his motives attacked, his courage 
impeached, his patriotism assailed. It has been a system 
tending to one end: and the end is here. What was his 
crime? Keview his history — consider his public acts — 
weigh his private character — and before the grave en- 
closes him forever, judge between him and his enemies! 

As a man — to be judged in his private relations — who 
was his superior? It was his boast, and amid the general 
license of a new country, it was a proud one, that his 
most scrutinizing enemy could fix no single act of immor- 
ality upon him! Temperate, decorous, self -restrained, he 
had passed through all the excitements of California, un- 
stained. No man could charge him with broken faith or 
violated trust; of habits simple and inexpensive, he had 
no lust of gain. He overreached no man's weakness in a 
bargain, and withheld from no man his just dues. Never, 
in the history of the State, has there been a citizen who has 
borne public relations, more stainless in all respects than 
he. 

But it is not by this standard he is to be judged. He 
was a public man, and his memory demands a public judg- 
ment. What was his public crime? The answer is in his 
own words: "I die because I was opposed to a corrupt ad- 
ministration, and the extension of slavery." Fellow-eit- 

232 



APPENDIX 

izens, they are remarkable words, uttered at a very re- 
markable moment: they involve the history of his Sena- 
torial career, and of its sad and bloody termination. 

When Mr. Broderick entered the Senate, he had been 
elected at the beginning of a Presidential term as the 
friend of the President elect, having undoubtedly been one 
of his most influential supporters. There were unquestion- 
ably some things in the exercise of the appointing power 
which he could have wished otherwise; but he had every 
reason to remain with the Administration, which could be 
supposed to weigh vnth a man in his position. He had 
heartily maintained the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, 
as set forth in the Cincinnati Platform, and he never 
wavered in his support till the day of his death. But 
when in his judgment the President betrayed his obliga- 
tions to his party and country — when, in the whole series 
of acts in relation to Kansas, he proved recreant to his 
pledges and instructions — when the whole power of the 
Administration was brought to bear upon the legislative 
branch of the Government, in order to force Slavery upon 
an unwilling people — then, in the high performance of his 
duty as a Senator, he rebuked the Administration by his 
voice and his vote, and stood by his principles. It is true, 
he adopted no half-way measures. He threw the whole 
weight of his character into the ranks of the Opposition. 
He endeavored to arouse the people to an indignant sense 
of the iniquitous tyranny of federal power, and, kindling 
with the contest, became its fiercest and firmest opponent. 
Fellow-citizens, whatever may have been your political pre- 
dilections, it is impossible to repress your admiration, as 
you review the conduct of the man who lies hushed in 
death before you. You read in his history a glorious 
imitation of the great popular leaders who have opposed 
the despotic influences of power in other lands, and in 
our own. When John Hampden died on Chalgrove field, 

233 



APPENDIX ' 

he sealed his devotion to popular liberty with his blood. 
The eloquence of Fox found the sources of its inspiration 
in his love for the people. When Senators conspired 
against Tiberius Gracchus, and the Tribune of the people 
fell beneath their daggers, it was power that prompted the 
crime and demanded the sacrifice. Who can doubt, if your 
Senator had surrendered his free thought, and bent in 
submission to the rule of the Administration — who can doubt 
that instead of resting on a bloody bier, he would have this 
day been reposing in the inglorious felicitude of Presiden- 
tial sunshine? 

Fellow-citizens, let no man suppose that the death of the 
eminent citizen of whom I speak was caused by any other 
reason than that to which his own words assign it. It has 
been long foreshadowed — it was predicted by his friends — 
it was threatened by his enemies: it was the consequence 
of intense political hatred. His death was a political neces- 
sity, poorly veiled beneath the guise of a private quarrel. 
Here, in his own State, among those who witnessed the late 
canvass, who know the contending leaders, among those 
who know the antagonists on the bloody ground — here, the 
public conviction is so thoroughly settled, that nothing 
need be said. Tested by the correspondence itself, there 
was no cause, in morals, in honor, in taste, by any code, by 
the custom of any civilized land, there was no cause for 
blood. Let me repeat the story — it is as brief as it is fatal: 
A Judge of the Supreme Court descends into a political 
convention — it is just, however, to say that the occasion 
was to return thanks to his friends for an unsuccessful sup- 
port. In a speech bitter and personal he stigmatized 
Senator Broderick and all his friends in words of con- 
temptuous insult. When Mr. Broderick saw that speech, 
he retorted, saying in substance, that he had heretofore 
spoken of Judge Terry as an honest man, but that he now 
took it back. When inquired of, he admitted that he had 

234 



APPENDIX 

so said, and connected his words with Judge Terry's speech 
as prompting them. So far as Judge Terry personally was 
concerned, this was the cause of mortal combat; there was 
no other. 

In the contest which has just terminated in the State, 
Mr. Broderick had taken a leading part; he had been 
engaged in controversies very personal in their nature, 
because the subjects of public discussion had involved the 
character and conduct of many public and distinguished 
men. But Judge Terry was not one of these. He was 
no contestant; his conduct was not in issue; he had been 
mentioned but once incidentally — in reply to his own at- 
tack — and, except as it might be found in his peculiar 
traits or peculiar fitness, there was no reason to suppose 
that he could seek any man's blood. When William of 
Nassau, the deliverer of Holland, died in the presence of 
his wife and children, the hand that struck the blow was 
not nerved by private vengeance. When the fourth Henry 
passed unharmed amid the dangers of the field of Ivry, to 
perish in the streets of his capital by the hand of a fanatic, 
he did not seek to avenge a private grief. An exaggerated 
sense of personal honor — a weak mind with choleric pas- 
sions, intense sectional prejudice united with great con- 
fidence in the use of arms — these sometimes serve to 
stimulate the instruments which accomplish the deepest 
and deadliest purpose. 

Fellow-citizens! One year ago today I performed a duty, 
such as I perform today, over the remains of Senator 
Ferguson, who died as Broderick died, tangled in the 
meshes of the code of honor. Today there is another and 
more eminent sacrifice. Today I renew my protest; today 
I utter yours. The code of honor is a delusion and a snare; 
it palters with the hope of a true courage and binds it 
at the feet of crafty and cruel skill. It surrounds its vic- 
tim with the pomp and grace of the procession, but leaves 

235 



APPENDIX 

him bleeding on the altar. It substitutes cold and deliberate 
preparation for courageous and manly impulse, and arms 
the one to disarm the other; it may prevent fraud be- 
tween practiced duelists who should be forever without its 
pale, but it makes the mere ' ' trick of the weapon ' ' superior 
to the noblest cause and the truest courage. Its pretence 
of equality is a lie — it is equal in all the form, it is unjust 
in all the substance — the habitude of arms, the early train- 
ing, the frontier life, the border war, the sectional custom, 
the life of leisure, all these are advantages which no 
negotiation can neutralize, and which no courage can over- 
come. 

But, fellow-citizens, the protest is not only spoken, in 
your words and in mine — it is written in indelible charac- 
ters; it is written in the blood of Gilbert, in the blood of 
Ferguson, in the blood of Broderick; and the inscription 
will not altogether fade. 

With the administration of the code in this particular 
case, I am not here to deal. Amid passionate grief, let us 
strive to be just. I give no currency to rumors of which 
-personally I know nothing; there are other tribunals to 
which they may well be referred, and this is not one of 
them. But I am here to say, that whatever in the code 
of honor or out of it demands or allows a deadly com- 
bat where there is not in all things entire and certain 
equality, is a prostitution of the name, is an evasion of 
the substance, and is a shield, emblazoned with the name 
of Chivalry, to cover the malignity of murder. 

And now, as the shadows turn towards the East, and 
we prepare to bear these poor remains to their silent rest- 
ing-place, let us not seek to repress the generous pride 
which prompts a recital of noble deeds and manly virtues. 
He rose unaided and alone; he began his career without 
family or fortune, in the face of difficulties; he inherited 
poverty and obscurity: he died a Senator in Congress, hav- 

236 



APPENDIX 

ing written his name in the history of the great struggle 
for the rights of the people against the despotism of 
organization and the corruption of power. He leaves in 
the hearts of his friends the tenderest and the proudest 
recollections. He was honest, faithful, earnest, sincere, 
generous and brave; he felt in all the great crises of his 
life that he was a leader in the ranks, that it was his high 
duty to uphold the interests of the masses; that he could 
not falter. When he returned from that fatal field, while 
the dark wing of the Archangel of Death was casting its 
shadows upon his brow, his greatest anxiety was as to the 
performance of his duty. He felt that all his strength and 
all his life belonged to the cause to which he had devoted 
them. "Baker," said he — and to me they were his last 
words — "Baker, when I was struck I tried to stand firm, 
but the blow blinded me, and I could not." I trust it is 
no shame to my manhood that tears blinded me as he said 
it. Of his last hour I have no heart to speak. He was 
the last of his race; there was no kindred hand to smooth 
his couch or wipe the death damp from his brow; but 
around that dying bed strong men, the friends of early 
manhood, the devoted adherents of later life, bowed in 
irrepressible grief, "and lifted up their voices and wept." 
But, fellow-citizens, the voice of lamentation is not ut- 
tered by private friendship alone — the blow that struck 
his manly breast has touched the heart of a people, and 
as the sad tidings spread, a general gloom prevails. Who 
now shall speak for California? — who be the interpreter of 
the wants of the Pacific coast? Who can appeal to the 
communities of the Atlantic who love free labor? Who 
can speak for masses of men with a passionate love for the 
classes from whence he sprung? Who can defy the bland- 
ishments of power, the insolence of office, the corruption 
of administrations? What hopes are buried with him in 
the grave! 

237 



APPENDIX 

"Ah I who that gallant spirit shall resume, 
Leap from Eurotas' bank, and call us from the tomb?" 
But the last word must be spoken, and the imperious 
mandate of Death must be fulfilled. Thus, O brave heart! 
we bear thee to thy rest. Thus, surrounded by tens of 
thousands, we leave thee to the equal grave. As in life, 
no other voice among us so rung its trumpet blast upon 
the ear of freemen, so in death its echoes will reverberate 
amid our mountains and valleys, until truth and valor cease 
to appeal to the human heart. 

Good friend! true hero! hail and farewell. 



238 



PERSONS WHO HAVE FURNISHED 
WRITTEN STATEMENTS 

General Haery Worthington 

Isaac R. Hitt 

General Daniel E. Sickles 

General P. C. Rust 

Mrs. John A. Logan 

Colonel W. B. Shaw 

George H. Rogers 

George T. Knox 

Chas. W. Kendall 

John H. Wise 

John Daggett 



239 



PARTIAL LIST OF OTHER 
AUTHORITIES 

Men and Memories San Francisco in the Spring of '50 

Barry and Patten 

Memoirs of Wm. M. Gwin 

Memoirs of Stephen J. Field 

Hittell's History of California 

Bancroft's History of the Pacific Coast 

The Terry-BrodericTc Duel, John Currey 

Representative Men of the Pacific — Shuck 

George William Curtis, 1860 

George Wilkes, 1859 

New York Ah. Papers, 1844 to 1849 

Alta California, 1851 to 1859 

Mountains and Molehills, Marryatt 

Harper Brothers, New York, 1855 

Three Years in California, Colton, New York, 1850 

Annals of San Francisco, 1854 

Life of Junipero Serra 

Trial of B. S. Terry hy Committee of Vigilance 

San Francisco, 1856 

History of Vigilance Committee 

San Francisco, 1857 

Narrative of Edward McGowan 

San Francisco, 1857 

Early Days and Men in California, Swasey 

Brodericlc and Gwin, O'Meara 

Every Paper Published in San Francisco During the Weelc 

of the Duel and Death 
A Complete Transcript of BrodericTc's, Senatorial Eecord 



240 



INDEX 

Pages 

Ashe, E. P., his evidence in the Terry trial 135-136 

Baker, E. D., defends Cora, 1856 108-109 

Ballot Box Featjds 138 

Benham, Calhoun, mention of 206, 220 

BiGLEE, Gov. John, concedes patronage to Broderick. . . 70 

Mention of 84 

Broderick, David Colbert, anecdotes of 85, 86 

Attitude of the press on his refusal to accept the 

challenge of Terry 204 

Attitude towards Kansas and Slavery ques- 
tions 167 

Challenge of Terry 203-204 

Change in politics towards the close of his 

career 191-193 

Character of his supporters 79 

Chosen United States Senator, 1857 154 

Contest for the Senate of the United States . . 144-154 

Death of 224 

Duel with J. Caleb Smith 54 

Duel with David S. Terry, see Broderick-Terry 
duel. 

Early history of 29-36 

Elected Senator to California Legislature 28, 50 

Encounter with Moore 51-52 

Encounter with Peyton 85-86 

Entertained at Salt Lake City 184-185 

Establishes a private mint in San Francisco .... 48-49 

Friendship for Stephen J. Field 57-58 

Funeral ceremonies 225-226 

241 



INDEX 

Broderick, David Colbert (continued) Pages 

In Washington 158-162, 166-181 

Influence with the Democratic party 71-75 

Leaves Washington 192 

Makes a canvass of California 194-195 

Mysteriously assaulted in New York 192 

Personal bravery 83 

Personal description 39, 67-69 

Platform as Senator 191-192 

Eelations with William M. Gwin 87-88, 196-198 

Kelations with George Wilkes 142-143 

Kemoved from the Committee on Public 

Lands 185-187 

Replies to Terry's letter of September 8, 1859. . . 206 

Secures settlement of Fremont's claims 180 

Simplicity of his tastes and habits 164-165 

Speech on slavery 171-176 

Speeches written by George Wilkes denied. . .177-178 
Supports Terry during the trial of the latter by 

the Vigilance Committee 141 

Voyage of, to California 36-38 

Broderick-Terry duel 213-224 

Articles of engagement 209-210 

Description of weapons used in 213-215 

Immediate origin of 202-203 

Scene on the field of 216-223 

Brooks, Samuel H., present at the Broderick-Terry 

duel 219 

Bulletin, see Evening Biilletin. 

Bucareli, Viceroy, sends vessel to California 9 

California, admitted to the Union 28 

Constitution of 1849 26-27 

Constitutional delegation 27 

Early history of 1'^ 

Early lynch law in 22-23 

242 



INDEX 

California (continued) Pages 

Election of 1853 72 

Indians 10 

Immigration 23-26 

Latin population of 21-22 

Life in 1849. Society, manners and customs. . .44-48 

Missions 12-13 

Progress of, described 61-66 

Senatorial vote, 1857 151 

State Democratic Convention of 1854, remarkable 

proceedings of 81-84 

Casey, James P., assassinates James King of Wil- 
liam 112-116 

Coleman, William T., mention of 120 

CoLTON, David, mention of 211 

CoEA, Chaeles, assassinates Richardson 108 

Cokrespondence leading to the Broderick-Terry 

duel 205-209 

Crime in California, see Punishment, 

Custom House of San Francisco 91 

Daggett, John, statement of 214-215 

DoNNER party 17 

Douglas, Stephen M 168-169 

Drake, Sir Francis, mention of 3 

Early party politics in California, see Party Politics. 
Eastern opinions regarding crime in California in 

1856 110-111 

Election of 1856 144 

Evening Bulletin of San Francisco established by 

James King of William c 113 

Statement in, regarding James P. Casey 114 

Ferguson, W. I., fatal duel with Geo. Pen John- 
ston 183-184 

Friendly relations with Broderick 182-184 

243 



INDEX 



Field, Stephen J., becomes Justice of the Supreme 

Court of California, 1858 163 

His encounter with B. F. Moore averted by 

Broderick 56-59 

Fremont, John C, military journey from Monterey to 

Los Angeles 15-16 

United States Senator, 1849 27 

Gambling in California 104-106 

Gold discovered in California 17-20 

Grewell, Jacob, Senator from Santa Clara, defeats 

Broderick 's political plans 75-78 

Gwin, William M., arrival in California 89 

Duel with J. W. McCorkle 91-92 

Famous letter to Broderick 156-157, 184-185, 196 

Member of the Constitutional Convention in 

1849 90 

Personal appearance and history 89-90 

Political antagonist of Broderick 87-88, 195-196 

Haskell, Leonidas, friend in whose house Broderick 's 

death occurred 223 

Herald, see San Francisco Herald. 

Hopkins, S. A., stabbed by David S. Terry 131-132 

Indians, see California. 

King of William, James, death of 121 

Personal history of 112-113 

Latham, Milton S., mention of 95 

"Law and Order" Party 131, 137-138 

McCorkle, J. W., duel with William M. Gwin 91-92 

McDougall, John, chairman of State Democratic Con- 
vention of 1854 82 

Favorable to the Vigilance Committee of 1851 . 100-101 
McGowAN, Edward, evades the Vigilance Commit- 
tee 130-131 

Mention of % 82 

244 



INDEX 

Pages 

McKiBBEN, J. C, mention of 209 

Moore, B. F., antagonistic to Broderick 51 

Attitude towards Field 57-59 

Moore, Elliott, J., mention of 219 

Party politics in California 92-95 

Perley, D. W., mention of 202-203 

Peyton, Balie, encounter with Broderick 85-86 

PORTOLA, GASPAR DE 6 

Punishment of crime in California, statistics of Ill 

Eichardson, W. H., assassinated by Charles Cora 107 

San Francisco Custom House called "Virginia Poor 

House" 91 

Eerald, Anti-Vigilante 125-126 

Vigilance Coromittee, see Vigilance Committee. 

Serra, Junipero, in California 5-9, 11 

Sherman, William T., mention of 124 

Sickles, Daniel E., recollections of Broderick 34 

Smith, J. Caleb, duel with Broderick 54 

Stella, pioneer vessel 38 

Stevenson 's regiment 17 

Sutter, John A., mention of 43 

Sutter 's Fort, description of 42-43 

Terry, David S., attempts the murder of Hopkins. . .131-133 

Arrested by the Vigilance Committee 132-133 

Duel with Broderick 213-224 

Justice of the Supreme Court of California. . .95-200 

Letter to Broderick, September 8, 1859 205 

Mention of 83 

Personal history of 199-200 

Eesigns from the Supreme Court of California. . 205 

Speech before the Lecompton Convention 201 

Statement to the Vigilance Committee 133-135 

Trial by the Vigilance Committee, verdict and 
judgment 136-137 

245 



X 






INDEX -iU^f^ 



Pages 
TiLPORD, Frank, Broderick's chief political supporter. . 149 

Vigilance Committee of 1851, actions of 100-102 

Causes of organization of 96-98 

Declaration of 99 

Justification of 106-107 

Vigilance Committee of 1856, actions of 117-139 

Disbands 139 

Justification of 126-127 

"Virginia Poor House," see San Francisco Custom 
House. 

Walker, William, filibuster, friend of Broderick 78 

Weller, John B., chosen to succeed Fremont in 1851 

54, 90-91 

Wilkes, George, relations with Broderick 141-143 



246 



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